COMMUNICATION ISSUES BETWEEN CAREGIVERS AND PATIENTS WITH CONCEALMENT OF ADVANCED-STAGE CANCER: A QUALITATIVE STUDY Introduction: Communication is a key element of palliative care. e concealment of advanced-stage diseases is a communication challenge. is study aimed to explore the patterns and diculties in communication regarding the concealment of advanced-stage cancer between caregivers and patients. Methods: is qualitative study employed an interpretive phenomenological approach and was conducted at a district hospital in ailand. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed to collect data from caregivers (i.e. family members) of patients regarding the concealment of advancedstage cancer. e data analysis followed an inductive thematic approach. Results: Ten in-depth interviews were conducted among the caregivers of patients aged 57–97 years. Four themes emerged: (i) reasons for concealing the diagnosis and prognosis (personality of patients and concerns about negative eects), (ii) communication patterns between caregivers and patients (communicating symptoms/signs instead of the diagnosis/prognosis and distorting information), (iii) diculties and challenges in maintaining concealment (feelings of guilt, hesitation in sharing the information and suspicion of patients’ awareness of their diagnosis/prognosis) and (iv) communication support from healthcare professionals (avoiding informing patients about their diagnosis/prognosis, supporting decision-making and disclosing the information). Conclusion: e concealment of advanced-stage cancer is perceived as an appropriate communication approach among some caregivers. Communicating information about advanced-stage cancer is dynamic. Some caregivers and families consider disclosing the information in the future. Healthcare professionals can support communication throughout care. Future studies should focus on decision-making and communication processes for better handling of information concealment or the conspiracy of silence in palliative care.