Scientific article
Review
OA Policy
English

Between illness and health: A scoping review of cancer experience through the construct of liminality

Published inJournal of health psychology, vol. 31, no. 3, p. 934-947; 13591053251351807
Publication date2026
First online date2025-07-28
Abstract

Individuals affected by cancer (IAC) often oscillate between two states during or after treatment: feeling ill/cured or dying/living. This in-between state relates to liminality; however, the construct is used differently from one study to another, which creates indeterminacy. Our scoping review aims to clarify how liminality is theoretically defined and applied in psycho-oncology to describe IAC's experiences and identify the associated concepts. We searched five databases using English and French keywords, selecting 20 peer-reviewed studies from 454 retrieved. Studies associated liminality with words such as state, space, or experience. They used often liminality in contexts involving psychological, social, or physical difficulties. Despite differences across studies, convergent points emerged. We propose a tentative definition of liminality: a state where IAC face significant difficulties following cancer experience, which persist and marginalize them until they redefine their identity. Health professionals could identify IAC in liminal states to provide appropriate support.

Keywords
  • Cancer
  • In-between state
  • Liminality
  • Psycho-oncology
  • Scoping-review
Citation (ISO format)
MATHIEU, Thierry, FAVEZ, Nicolas, CAIRO NOTARI, Sarah. Between illness and health: A scoping review of cancer experience through the construct of liminality. In: Journal of health psychology, 2026, vol. 31, n° 3, p. 934–947. doi: 10.1177/13591053251351807
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN1359-1053
7views
82downloads

Technical informations

Creation29/07/2025 00:30:26
First validation11/03/2026 12:48:46
Update11/03/2026 12:48:46
Status update11/03/2026 12:48:46
Last indexation11/03/2026 12:48:47
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack