European journal of oncology nursing : the official journal of European Oncology Nursing Society
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Since chemotherapy has largely become an outpatient treatment, adequate self-management is of great importance. Available instruments focus exclusively on dealing with side effects. However, self-care during chemotherapy not only concerns symptom self-management. The aim of this study was to develop a valid instrument to assess patient self-care during chemotherapy. ⋯ The L-PaSC demonstrated good content validity and psychometric properties. The L-PaSC can be applied in research and clinical practice for evaluating patient self-care during chemotherapy.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Differences in depression, anxiety, and quality of life between women with and without breast pain prior to breast cancer surgery.
Little is known about the relationships between pain, anxiety, and depression in women prior to breast cancer surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate for differences in anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QOL) in women who did and did not report the occurrence of breast pain prior to breast cancer surgery. We hypothesized that women with pain would report higher levels of anxiety and depression as well as poorer QOL than women without pain. ⋯ Our a priori hypotheses were only partially supported. Findings from this study suggest that, regardless of pain status, anxiety and depression are common problems in women prior to breast cancer surgery.
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Comparative Study
A comparative descriptive study examining the perceptions of cancer patients, family caregivers, and nurses on patient symptom severity in Turkey.
Perform a comparative descriptive study that aims to describe the symptom severity of patients receiving chemotherapy and to compare patient self-reports of symptom severity with inferences made by nurses and family caregivers. ⋯ Perceptions of formal or informal caregivers about symptoms in patients with cancer will help clinicians to develop strategies or approaches to improve the caregiver symptom assessment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Supporting self-management of pain in cancer patients: methods and lessons learned from a randomized controlled pilot study.
The purposes of this paper are to describe the methods used and the knowledge gained during a pilot study that evaluated the effects of a self-management intervention for cancer pain, as well as the adaptations that were made for a larger clinical trial. ⋯ NCT00920504.
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Multicenter Study
A European survey of oncology nurse breakthrough cancer pain practices.
Breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP) is a prevalent type of pain in which the nurse can play an important role in improving patients' pain symptoms and overall well-being. Nurses' experience with BTCP (number of patients, and estimates of severity and frequency), the treatment of BTCP (pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments normally used), ratings of the importance of treatment factors, and reasons given for not advising patients to take strong painkillers are presented in the present paper. ⋯ Patients do not receive the appropriate medical treatment for their BTCP. Nurses need better training about BTCP in general, and BTCP assessment and management specifically.