ABSTRACT
This study focuses on the meaning of comfort from the perspective of immigrant Hispanic cancer patients undergoing treatment at a large Western medical center. Patients (n = 10), in 30 ethnographical interviews conducted in Spanish by a culturally sensitive interviewer identified characteristics, needs, and sources of comfort. The characteristics of comfort were: feeling integrated, functioning and normalcy, care and nurturing, security and safety, control and "comodo." Comfort needs evolved into 6 categories: nurturing, familiar environment, safety, quality of life, normalcy, and "animo." Providers of comfort, as perceived by these Hispanic patients were: self, family, health care providers, and God. The characteristics of comfort most frequently talked about by the Hispanic participants were feeling integrated and nurtured. Integrated, a seemingly complex characteristic of comfort, reflected a sense of inner peace with oneself that went beyond the physical comfort. Function and normalcy were also perceived to be important aspects of comfort. It is important to note that the Hispanic patients on occasion used culturally relevant terms, such as comodo and animo (neither of which are readily translated into English) to convey their impressions of comfort. The study demonstrates that comfort is important in illness and cancer treatment situations, and that for these Hispanic patients it also had influence from their culture.