A descriptive, exploratory, and phenomenological approach was used to understand pain experience in children with cancer. Seventeen children that were being treated at the pediatric oncology service of the "Clinics Hospital of Ribeirão Preto of the University of São Paulo" (University hospital) participated in this study between January and December 2010. A phenomenological interview was conducted with parental, legal guardian, or responsible relative consent. Analysis and discussion were carried out according to the model proposed by Martins and Bicudo and the Merleau-Ponty's conceptions of phenomenology, respectively. The experience of pain evidenced the dimensions: pain and paradox of life and death, turning to spirituality when dealing with pain, realizing the emotional pain of the family, experiencing pain in the during the hospitalization period, and understanding the body pain positively and negatively. These children were able to understand their pain through a multidimensional approach, communicating their understanding in a sophisticated way. Such understanding can be influenced by intersubjectivity, life history, psychosocial aspects, and, especially, by the understanding achieved while dealing with the disease.
Pain; Children; Phenomenology; Neoplasms