PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify attributes of the concept of healing. METHODS: Using Walker & Avant's concept analysis framework, medical & nursing text books and, research articles about healing published between 2000 and 2014 were reviewed. RESULTS: There were four aspects of the concept of healing: natural process through spiritual and mental purification; resilience of emotions and feeling in human nature; holistic cure as well as physical and mental treatment of disease; and harmonious balance and overall well-being of mind and body. Antecedents of healing that helped to purify the mind were illness recovery and injury perception. Empirical referents of healing were purifying the mind, quality of life and health-related spirituality. The consequences of healing were effective on the physical, psychosocial, spiritual and overall well-being of the patients. CONCLUSION: This concept analysis of healing help us to understand more clearly overall health and the health of patients in the clinical field. The concept of healing could be useful to promote health and well-being.
Human Characteristics ; Humans ; Mental Healing ; Nursing ; Nursing Theory ; Quality of Life ; Spiritual Therapies ; Spirituality

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the actual working hours of an oncology advanced practice nurse (APN) at a university hospital according to the duties and tasks outlined in the job description. METHODS: An assessment tool for this study was created based on the job description of APN as defined by the Korean Nurses Association, and was later verified by a specialist party. Twenty-three oncology APNs recorded their nursing activity on the assessment tool. The working hours and distribution were analyzed according to specific duty and task. RESULTS: Average working hours per day for APNs totaled 9.3 hours. Time for duties was allocated as follows in order of priority: 28.0% for therapeutic intervention and 19.8% for clinical decision making. Time allotted for tasks was distributed as follows: 19.5% for special nursing care and 9.8% for planning treatment and nursing interventions. CONCLUSION: This study allowed insight into the actual time spent by oncology APNs on duties and tasks outlined in the job description. These findings should contribute to management of the changing role of oncology APNs. Furthermore, the results may be used as a basic resource for the continued professional development of the work of oncology APNs.
Advanced Practice Nursing ; Decision Making ; Job Description ; Nursing ; Nursing Care ; Oncology Nursing ; Specialization

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify the effects of depression on the survival of patients with cancer over a 10 year period. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted to examine survival of 218 patients with stomach, colorectal and breast cancer, who had been treated for cancer from 2002 to 2011. Depression was assessed by using the Symptom Check List-90 Revision in 2002, and hope, fighting spirit and other potential confounders were also measured to control for their effects on the association between depression and the survival time. Data on survival were collected from the Statistics Korea and also from medical record in 2011. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression model were used to examine if depression affected survival. RESULTS: The total number of death was 106, and the non-survivors scored higher on depression than survivors. Depression was found to be one of the influencing factors on survival from cancer. CONCLUSION: Depression was significantly associated with the increased risk of death in cancer patients. Further research is needed to identify in details which type of emotional interventions can extend the survival time of cancer patients in depression.
Emotional Adjustment ; Breast Neoplasms ; Depression* ; Hope ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach ; Survivors

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine nurses' sexual health care attitude and practice while caring for cancer patients. METHODS: Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 236 nurses caring for patients with cancer from June 30, 2014 to July 6, 2014 at a University Hospital in Daegu, Korea. RESULTS: The mean score for sexual health care attitude of nurses caring for patients with cancer was 27.75+/-6.45 of a possible range 17 to 51 and the mean score for a sexual health care practice of nurses was 3.67+/-3.30 of a possible range 0 to 21. The scores of a sexual health care attitude and practice were significantly different by age, education, department, experience in gynecology or urology departments, and position. Sexual health care attitude and practice had a significantly positive correlation (r=.16, p=.015). CONCLUSION: The nurses caring for patients with cancer recognize the importance of sexual health care, but their sexual health care practice rate was very low. Therefore specific and differentiated nurse education programs designed to increase sexual health care practice are required for young nurses and staff nurses that are not practicing sexual health care often.
Daegu ; Education ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Korea ; Reproductive Health* ; Urology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the levels of distress and quality of life in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and to identify the relationship between distress and quality of life. METHODS: Data were collected during 2013 from 128 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at a hospital located in Seoul, South Korea. Distress thermometer and problem list were used to measure distress, and the Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-general questionnaire was used to measure quality of life. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, the post-hoc Scheffe test, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Among the 128 participants, 68 (53.1%) were male and the mean age was 52.55 years. Forty two (32.8%) were diagnosed with stage 4 and 73 (57.0%) were having recurrence or metastasis. The mean score for distress was 4.01 out of 10. Seventy four (57.8%) participants had a score of 4 or higher, indicating clinically significant distress. Emotional problems had the highest item mean among five domains. The mean score for quality of life was 68.51 +/- 14.22 out of 108. Distress and quality of life were negatively correlated (r= -.52, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Distress level with specific problems should be regularly assessed to relieve distress and improve the quality of life of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
Drug Therapy* ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Quality of Life* ; Recurrence ; Seoul ; Thermometers ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships among fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression, and quality of life in Korean patients with multiple myeloma and to identify factors influencing their quality of life. METHODS: The study design was a crosssectional descriptive study. The participants were 92 multiple myeloma patients who visited the outpatient department at a university hospital in Seoul, Korea. The data were collected from January to April in 2013 with self-reporting questionnaires. RESULTS: The mean scores of quality of life in all dimensions were relatively low. Fatigue, pain, anxiety and depression were all correlated to the global heath/quality of life, functional quality of life, and symptom quality of life (p<.001). Fatigue, pain and depression accounted for 65.1% (p<.001) in global health/quality of life and 73.6% (p<.001) in functional quality of life, respectively. And fatigue and pain accounted for 66.4% (p<.001) in symptom quality of life. CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that fatigue, pain and depression were major predictors of quality of life for patients with multiple myeloma. Therefore, psychological symptoms, such as depression, and physical symptoms should be integrated into the nursing intervention to improve their quality of life.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Korea ; Multiple Myeloma* ; Nursing ; Outpatients ; Quality of Life* ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of stress, spousal support, and resilience on the types of coping among women with breast cancer. METHOD: Using a cross-sectional survey design, a total of 120 participants, diagnosed with breast cancer, had a mass removal surgery, and were fluent in Korean, were recruited at a cancer center in Seoul, Korea. Self-reported questionnaires of stress, spousal support, resilience, and ways of coping were administered upon the permission from the original developers. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 Win program. RESULT: Ways of coping was positively correlated with spousal support, resilience, and stress. Positive correlations were found between problem-focused coping, spousal support, and resilience. Positive correlations were found between emotion-focused coping with stress and resilience. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that spousal support had significant moderating effect on the relationship between stress and emotion-focused coping. CONCLUSION: Women perceived their diagnosis and surgery as more stressful, they more like to use emotion-focused coping. Women with more spousal support and resilience were found to use problem-focused coping more. Based on the findings of this study, a tailored intervention for women with breast cancer for improving their coping is expected in future research.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Seoul

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify the present conditions of clinical practicum through analyzing guidebooks used in education institutions for oncology advanced practice nursing programs and to discuss future directions. METHODS: Ten of a total of 13 education institutions participated in this study and ten guidebooks were reviewed from June 1 to October 31, 2014. The standard curriculum developed by the Korean accreditation board of nursing education was used to analyze the present conditions and an analyzing frame was developed by a research team. Two coders independently recorded the data, agreement was 92% and all disagreements was concurrent after discussion. RESULTS: Courses in the area of 'advanced oncology nursing' were most highly established and, courses in the area of 'introduction of oncology nursing' were least established. Some learning objectives were never dealt with and some learning objectives were over dealt with. The national cancer center was most used for practicum. Diverse homework and evaluation methods were used. CONCLUSION: Through analyzing clinical practicum guidebooks for oncology advanced practice nursing students, we found that balanced practicum courses are needed to improve the quality of oncology advanced practice nurse programs.
Accreditation ; Advanced Practice Nursing* ; Curriculum ; Education ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Learning

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe hospice palliative nurses' experience of caring for terminal cancer patients. METHODS: Eleven hospice palliative nurses participated in the study. Data were collected through individual in-depth unstructured interviews with participants from November, 2012 to October, 2013. Theoretical sampling was used to the point of theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed using Corbin and Strauss' 'Grounded Theory Method.' RESULTS: From open coding, 25 sub-categories and 12 categories were identified. Analysis revealed that the core category was 'becoming stepping-stones between life and death enduring burdens', consisting of three phases: the phase of withdrawal, the phase of exertion, and the phase of maturity. Through this process, participants utilized various action/interactional strategies such as 'maintaining a distance', 'sharing intimate daily life', 'being a mediator for a peaceful death', 'grieving and remembering'. The consequences of these strategies were a transcendental perspective towards life and ambivalent feelings toward hospice nursing. CONCLUSION: In-depth understanding of the hospice palliative nurses' experience of caring for terminal cancer patients will guide nurse managers and policy makers to promote effective nursing strategies to better support hospice palliative nurses.
Administrative Personnel ; Clinical Coding ; Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Nurse Administrators ; Nursing ; Patient Care ; Qualitative Research ; Terminal Care

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the factors affecting prostate cancer screening behavior in Korean men using the health belief model (HBM). METHODS: It was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. A total of 121 participants answered questionnaires which included general characteristics, knowledge, and HBM variables related to prostate cancer and prostate cancer screening tests. RESULTS: Only 18 participants (14.9%) had had a prostate cancer screening test before. Participants who had had a prostate cancer screening test were more likely to perceive lower health status (odds ratio: 0.61 [95% confidence interval: 0.39, 0.93]), higher perceived sensitivity (odds ratio: 3.55 [95% confidence interval: 1.11, 11.36]), and higher self-efficacy (odds ratio: 5.77 [95% confidence interval: 1.51, 22.08]) than participants who had not had a test. CONCLUSION: We recommend developing an educational program which can increase the level of perceived sensitivity and self-efficacy to involve themselves in prostate cancer screening test actively.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms*