The experience of cancer for the elderly was explored through a cross-sectional interview study. Symptoms are posited to be the core of the cancer experience inasmuch as they are the way in which the cancer itself is perceived by an individual. The study substructure is formed by a review of data-based literature and a theoretical foundation that incorporates symbolic interactionism, Erikson's Life Cycle, the meta-concept of comfort, and cultural histories of aging and of cancer. The analysis was guided by the grounded theory method.

Nineteen participants, recruited from two medical centers, contributed data through single interviews. Ten participants were men and nine were women. The average age was 74 years. Two participants were African American and the remainder were European American.

Constant comparative analysis indicated that the participants made cancer a part of their already well-established lives rather than having the cancer become the center of their lives. "Integrating cancer into a life mostly lived" is the conceptual term used to describe this process. The conditions for the process are old age, having cancer, and receiving Western medical treatment. The process involves five horizontal levels, and four phases within the internal component of the process. The over-riding conceptualization, or core concept, "integrating cancer into a life mostly lived", is supported by nine major concepts.

The grounded theory of "integrating cancer" suggests an experiential understanding of cancer in old age. "Integrating cancer" suggests the necessity for understanding the elderly who have cancer on their own terms of contextually defined disruption and comfort and for examining current health care approaches to these individuals. Further research in the emergent mode of grounded theory is needed to firmly establish the utility of the theory of "integrating cancer" to the science and practice of nursing. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).