From symptom to diagnosis and treament: Environment and health perceived by the oncological patient

A study that aimed to get to know the aspects of an oncological patient’s health and its environment, in the time interval between the symptom, its diagnosis and its treatment. Field research, quali-qualitative approach, exploratory and longitudinal character. Thirty-four cancer patients took part in it. Participants were selected by accessibility. Data collection used semi-structured interview script. Based on the Content Analysis technique, four categories were created: (a) Symptom; (b) Diagnosis; (c) Environments and Relationships; and, (d) Coping Strategies. Transcripts were submitted to MAXQDA12 Software for quantitative analysis of qualitative data. It was verified that the patients recognize as symptoms only those associated with pain, relativizing the others. Diagnosis is the hardest time to experience, since it is accompanied by the need (desires) of certainties, and at the same time by fears (dread) towards it. Significant changes in the social, familiar and work environments are inevitable, which contributes to a patient’s ability to recompose and reorganize. Anxiety, fear, insecurity, uncertainty, strangeness, perception of mutilation, bitterness, rancor, stress, anguish, apprehension, resentment, although common to most oncological patients, attest to the importance of specialized professional care in order to contribute to the adoption of healthy coping strategies to deal with the disease.