European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study Observational Study
Impact of scalp cooling on chemotherapy-induced alopecia, wig use and hair growth of patients with cancer.
Cytotoxic therapy for patients with cancer frequently induces reversible, but long-lasting alopecia which might be prevented by scalp cooling. This study evaluates the effectiveness of scalp cooling with respect to the severity of chemotherapy-induced alopecia (CIA) and the purchase and use of wigs and head covers. ⋯ The relatively long duration of CIA, the wish of many patients to camouflage or rather prevent it and the 40% reduction for head covering by scalp cooling, makes it a worthwhile supportive intervention. However, (cost-) effectiveness can be improved. Many scalp-cooled patients purchased a wig unnecessarily.
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The purpose of this study was to describe and examine how meanings of home condition negotiations of care for Chinese immigrants with advanced cancer receiving palliative home care in Toronto, Canada. ⋯ Although the study was focused on Chinese immigrants, the findings resonate with and speak more broadly to the contextual, systemic, social, and material circumstances associated with dying at home for immigrants with advanced cancer. Nurses providing palliative home care to immigrants may begin to critically examine assumptions of "cultural" beliefs about cancer and end-of-life care and look beyond identifying ethno-specific practices, but come to recognize how nurses are implicated in a culture of palliative care.
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Comparative Study
Hospital-community interface: a qualitative study on patients with cancer and health care providers' experiences.
Patients with cancer must deal with complex and fragmented healthcare systems in addition to coping with the burden of their illness. To improve oncology treatment along the care continuum, the barriers and facilitators for streamlined oncologic care need to be better understood. ⋯ The heavy reliance on informal routes of communication and integration by patients and providers emphasizes the urgent need for change in order to improve coordinating mechanisms for hospital-community oncologic care.
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The aim of this study was to describe surgical nurses' perceived work-related stress in the care of severely ill and dying patients with cancer after participating in an educational intervention on existential issues. ⋯ Results indicate that it may be possible to influence nurses' work-related stress through an educational intervention. According to nurses' descriptions, reflecting on their ways of caring for severely ill and dying patients, many of whom had cancer, from an existential perspective, had contributed to enhanced independent decision making in caring. This in turn appears to have decreased their feelings of work-related stress and disappointment at work.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Fifteen-minute music intervention reduces pre-radiotherapy anxiety in oncology patients.
Oncology patients may respond to radiation treatment with anxiety expressed as stress, fear, depression, and frustration. This study aimed to investigate effects of music intervention on reducing pre-radiotherapy anxiety in oncology patients. ⋯ Music therapy decreased State anxiety levels, Trait anxiety levels and systolic blood pressure in oncology patients who received the intervention prior to radiotherapy.