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Using qualitative methods based on grounded theory techniques, we interviewed a sample of 32 cancer patients. Living alone was an ambiguous experience during cancer treatment: patients experienced both a lack of support as well a gain in privacy, freedom, and know-how. Living alone was also seen as a constitutive element of the patients\u2019 identity. Consequently, patients saw living alone as either a threat or as a resource for their adjustment to cancer treatment. These divergent meanings of living alone did share one common attribute, which was that staying independent was their key goal during cancer treatment. Health care providers should be attentive to the heterogeneous aspects of the experience of living alone when critically appraising the independence of patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1049732314543109","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,7,15]],"date-time":"2014-07-15T23:29:53Z","timestamp":1405466993000},"page":"1057-1067","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Living Alone During Cancer Treatment"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Charlotte","family":"Benoot","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johan","family":"Bilsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Grypdonck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Reginald","family":"Deschepper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,7,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1049732314543109","volume-title":"Living alone","author":"Anderson H.","year":"1997"},{"key":"bibr2-1049732314543109","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.colegn.2007.11.005"},{"key":"bibr3-1049732314543109","unstructured":"Belgian Cancer Registration. 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