Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe how adult cancer patients in need of palliative care experience the process of being dying and being cared for at home from a physical and psycho-social perspective. The method for this study was a literary review including 16 scientific articles. Study findings showed that cancer patients in palliative care had a great deal of suffering both physically and psychosocially. Physical discomfort that caused major problems for patients were pain and fatigue. The psychosocial suffering was a major concern for patients experiencing themselves as a burden, but also a concern for how the lives of their relatives would be after their death. Positive experiences of palliative care at home according to the patients was that it contributed to the feeling of being secure and led to better control of symptoms. The negative experiences included fear of not getting help fast enough in case an acute condition would occur, difficulties in having to get help with personal hygiene and being forced to shift responsibility to someone else. It emerged that many patients who initially had the desire to die at home changed their wish when the disease entered its´ final phase and then wanted to be cared for in a hospital
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