• Cancer nursing · Sep 2017

    Symptom Clusters and Impact of Fatigue and Sleep Disturbance on Symptom Experiences of Hepatoma Patients in Taiwan.

    • Meng-Hua Chung, Shu-Yi Wang, and Chia-Chin Lin.
    • Author Affiliations: Graduate Institute of Nursing (Ms Chung) and School of Nursing (Dr Lin), College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; and Loretto Heights School of Nursing, Regis University, Denver, Colorado (Dr Wang).
    • Cancer Nurs. 2017 Sep 1; 40 (5): 403-411.

    BackgroundHepatoma is the second leading cause of cancer mortality among patients with cancer in Taiwan. Patients with cancer simultaneously experience multiple symptoms in clusters. Relevant studies have generally focused on a single hepatoma symptom.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to explore the prevalence of symptom clusters and the impact of fatigue and sleep on symptom experiences of patients with hepatoma.MethodsThe Taiwanese version of the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory was administered to a sample of 100 patients. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression, factor, and hierarchical cluster analyses.ResultsThe results showed that fatigue and sleep disturbance were the most severe symptoms experienced by patients with hepatoma. Patients with hepatoma who concurrently experienced fatigue and sleep disturbance experienced more symptoms and more severe symptoms than did those who experienced either symptom or no symptom. This study identified 2 clusters: 1 cluster comprised 8 symptoms and the other cluster comprised 5 symptoms. Factor analysis revealed the following 3 factors: pain-, gastrointestinal-, and sensation-related symptoms.ConclusionsPatients with hepatoma who concurrently experienced fatigue and sleep disturbance experienced more symptoms and more severe symptoms than did those who experienced either symptom or no symptom. This study identified 2 clusters experienced by patients with hepatoma.Implications For PracticeOur results provide implications for further research on managing the most common co-occurring symptoms to reduce symptom clusters and improve the quality of life of hepatoma patients.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…