Providing relief from cancer pain by assisting in the search for meaning.

Pain is a common, distressing symptom experienced by cancer patients and their family caregivers. An important aspect of coping with cancer pain is the ability to make meaning of the experience. This paper provides an overview of the literature related to meaning-making processes utilized by people experiencing cancer. It also presents an integrated approach to assisting patients and their family caregivers with the meaning-making process associated with cancer pain. Approaches to intervening are integrated within a model developed through previous research.