Cancer Patients' Meaning Making Regarding Their Dreams: A Study Among Cancer Patients in Malaysia

Dreaming has been associated with human activity, including the activity of individuals with chronic illness. To date, there is a body of literature that has associated dreaming with certain chronic illnesses such as breast cancer, asthma, hypertension, and colitis. However, little research has been done on dreaming activity among cancer patients and their beliefs. This study aims to investigate dreaming activity among cancer patients and explore their meaning making in relation to their dreams. This qualitative study involved 35 cancer patients. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The themes that emerged were dreams as an alarm, sadness and anxiety, denial, hope and motivation, nightmares are the work of evil, and searching for confirmation. It is hoped that this study will promote our understanding of cancer patients' journey.