Between Ideal and Actual Care: Patients’ and Family Carers’ Experiences of Cancer Care Relationships

Research on how patients and family carers experience their relationships with physicians and healthcare staff is limited, particularly regarding the gap between ideal expectations and actual care. This study explored patients’ and family carers’ perceptions of the ideal care relationship, their lived experiences, and factors shaping discrepancies between expectations and reality. A total of 143 semi-structured interviews (mean age = 56.7 ± 13.2; 61.4% women) were conducted with 57 cancer patients and 86 family carers in outpatient oncology clinics in Southern Italy. Transcripts were analysed using Thematic Analysis of Elementary Contexts (TAEC), a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative techniques. Four thematic clusters emerged: “Variability in the experience,” “The ideal care relationship,” “Waiting times and delays in care,” and “The luck of being cared for by a good physician.” Participants emphasized the importance of emotional support and family involvement, while also reporting unpredictability, variability in quality, and limitations in continuity and timeliness of services. These findings suggest that strengthening patient- and family-centred care requires both relational improvements and organizational interventions aimed at enhancing service coordination, resource allocation, and overall quality of care.