Abstract:
Communication influences patient disclosure, treatment adherence, and outcome, adaptation to
illness, and bereavement. Different cancer patients and caregivers communicate their various
experiences in unique ways. These distinctive experiences are necessary to be told, because it
empowers both the teller and everyone who hears and shares that experience. However, there is
little research documenting the experiences of cervical cancer patients and caregivers in Kenya and
the rest of Africa. This study therefore sought to assess the communication experience among
cervical cancer patients and their caregivers. This study was a qualitative study employing the
phenomenological method to obtain data from cervical patients and caregivers. It was carried out in
Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, where a range of in-depth interviews were held with eight patients and
eight caregivers purposively sampled. Data from the interviews were analysed thematically and
presented in narrative form using paraphrases and quotations. Ethical issues such as informed
consent, confidentiality and official authorisation were observed at all levels. To enrich this study,
hermeneutic theory, which explains more about the individual’s experience, was used. The findings of
the study indicated that communication is therapeutic, although most of the patients and the
caregivers were reluctant to talk about their illness. The findings of this study will be of interest to
scholars, policy-makers and caregivers of terminally ill patients.
