PURPOSE: This study aims to understand the worries that patients and families with a history of colorectal cancer experience. METHODS: From January 2011 through January 2013, in-depth interviews and observations were conducted on 3 colorectal patients and 8 family members with a family history of colorectal cancer. The data were analyzed using a micro-ethnographic research method. RESULTS: After colorectal cancer patients and families realized and concerned with their increased chance of getting cancer, Eventually this worry became a motivator causing them to adhere to cancer preventive behavior. Three types of cancer worries were identified: confrontation, uneasiness, and warning. Depending on the type of cancer risk, psychological responses and cancer preventive behavior were found to be varied according on the three types of cancer worries. Patients and families tried to change dietary habits and regulary exercise. To help ease their cancer worries, they started to search for information on colon cancers and attempted to follow recommendations. However, they found that neither detailed guidelines nor systematic management from health professionals existed for families with colon cancer patients. CONCLUSION: A cancer prevention nursing program needs to be developed based on the level of cancer risk and perceived cancer worries of clients.
Colonic Neoplasms ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Food Habits ; Health Occupations ; Humans ; Methods ; Nursing

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe and explore the experience of adolescents with cancer. METHODS: This study was based on the grounded theory by Strauss & Corbin (1998). The subjects were 13 adolescents including in and out-patients of a university hospital diagnosed with cancer. RESULTS: 'Getting changed' and 'getting deviated' were found to be the causal conditions. 'Inclination', 'self-reliance', and 'hope' were identified as contextual conditions, 'shrinking feeling' as the core phenomenon, 'awareness of disease', 'self-consciousness', and 'getting understanding and love' as intervening conditions, 'negligence', 'separation', 'self-management', and 'inspiration' as the strategies and 'being shirk', 'getting back', and 'going forward' as consequences. 'Breaking out of the withdrawn ego' was the core category in this study. CONCLUSION: This study provides a framework for the development of individualized nursing interventions for 'Breaking out of the withdrawn ego' to care for adolescents with cancer. Finally adolescents with cancer are 'reborn' with a more mature ego.
Adolescent ; Ego* ; Humans ; Life Change Events ; Nursing ; Outpatients

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the prioritization of research topics by Korean oncology nurses. METHODS: A descriptive and cross-sectional survey was conducted via the website of the Korean Oncology Nursing Society, with participation sought by email from all of its members. RESULTS: Overall, 'pain' and 'quality of life' were the most important among the 74 topics, 'cancer prevention' was ranked 47th, while 'informatics' and 'telehealth' were ranked 62nd and 72nd, respectively. Korean oncology nursing research needs to be expanded to include community-based cancer prevention. In addition, research on informatics and telehealth in the oncology nursing area is necessary given the current dramatic changes in the implementation of information technology in medical services. CONCLUSION: These findings may contribute toward the development of a Korean oncology nursing research agenda and the provision of information to funding agencies with respect to setting the priorities of oncology nursing research.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Electronic Mail ; Financial Management ; Informatics ; Korea ; Nursing ; Nursing Research ; Oncologic Nursing ; Quality of Life ; Societies, Nursing ; Telemedicine

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to compare the levels of pain intensity and pain relief between cancer patients and nursing records, and to compare the barriers to pain control between cancer patients and their nurses. METHODS: Data were collected from 90 cancer patients who were admitted to three oncology wards and 90 oncology nurses in the same three wards at C University Hospital in G City from July to September, 2012. RESULTS: The most severe pain intensity reported by cancer patients was 6.59 points on the first day of analgesic treatment, while that of their nursing records was 3.98 points on the first day. There were significant changes in pain intensity over time between two groups (F=142.07, p<.001). The highest level of pain relief reported by patients was 2.87 points on the third day, while that of nursing records was 1.67 points on the first day. The score for the social system area of barriers to pain control among the nurses was higher than that of cancer patients (t=-3.69, p=.021). CONCLUSION: Nurses need to frequently check and to be sensitive to cancer pain. Furthermore, the administrative procedures of narcotic analgesics need to be simplified.
Comprehension ; Humans ; Narcotics ; Nursing Records

PURPOSE: This study was to describe the relationship between optimism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in breast cancer patients. METHODS: The data were collected by self-administered questionnaires from March 5 to April 24, 2012. The participants included 204 breast cancer patients at K university hospital in D city. The utilized measurements were Life Orientation Test-revised (LOT-R) and Impact of Event Scale (IES). RESULTS: The mean scores of optimism and PTSD were 21.61+/-3.54 and 30.18+/-10.43, respectively. There were significant differences in the score of optimism by monthly income, engaging in a hobby, perceived level of stress management, need to manage stress, and people thought to be helpful in stress management. There were significant differences in the score of PTSD by engaging in a hobby, recurrence of cancer, the number of hospitalization, perceived level of stress management, need to manage stress, and people thought to be helpful in stress management. There was a negative correlation between optimism and PTSD. CONCLUSION: To relieve post-traumatic stress in breast cancer patients, nurses should provide ongoing psychological stress assessment from the beginning of the diagnostic stage and offer proper nursing intervention to improve optimism in dealing with their stress.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Hobbies ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Nursing ; Recurrence ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Stress, Psychological ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify validity the Korean version of resilience scale and identify performance status and resilience in patients with colorectal cancer. METHODS: A sample of 110 patients with colorectal cancer was recruited from a hospital in Seoul. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, factor analysis, MAP test and Parallel test and multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN 12.0 program. RESULTS: The reliability, validity, and factor analytic structure of the scale were evaluated. The scale demonstrated good psychometric properties and factor analysis yielded two factors. The resilience for colorectal cancer patients showed a significant difference according to marital status and performance status. The two variables were the significant factors influencing resilience, which they explained 26.5% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The results of the study show the importance of performance status in explaining the resilience in patients with colorectal cancer. Therefore, This study suggests that intervention programs to increase the performance status among patients could improve the resilience of cancer patients.
Activities of Daily Living ; Colorectal Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Psychometrics ; Seoul

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the relationships among death perceptions, death anxiety, and terminal care attitudes of nurses in oncology unit and to explore the predictors affecting their attitudes toward terminal care in Korea. METHODS: A sample of 94 nurses was recruited from oncology units at one university hospital and a national medical center in Korea. The subjects completed a demographic questionnaire, the View of Life and Death Scale, the Fear of Death Scale the Korean version, and the Attitudes toward Nursing Care of the Dying Scale. RESULTS: The subjects' terminal care attitudes were significantly positively influenced by death concern, perception of positive meanings of death, and experiences with the death of a family member or acquaintance in the last year. Those influential variables explained 21.5% of their terminal care attitudes. CONCLUSION: Findings of this study suggest that developing continuing education programs that teach effective coping strategies to prevent death anxiety and identifying barriers that can make caring for dying patients difficult may make a significant positive increase in the nurses' attitudes toward care of the dying. In addition, the provision of effective palliative care in oncology settings remains open to review through further research and development.
Anxiety* ; Attitude to Death* ; Education, Continuing ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Oncology ; Nursing Care ; Palliative Care ; Terminal Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the level of resilience, social support, depression, anxiety and self-efficacy in patients with colon cancer, and to examine factors affecting resilience. METHODS: Data were collected from 121 patients who had been diagnosed with colon cancer, at the 'B' hospital in Gyeonggi province and 'J' hospital in Jeju from October 30th to November 20th in the year of 2012. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression in SPSS WIN 18.0 program. RESULTS: The level of resilience significantly differed by occupation, average monthly household income, education level and existence of stoma. Resilience had significant positive correlation with family members support, friends supports, medical staff support and self-efficacy. Resilience had a significant negative correlation with anxiety and depression. Factors affecting resilience were education level, existence of stoma, friends supports, anxiety and depression with R2 value of 65.9%. CONCLUSION: Measures to improve the resilience of colon cancer patients are needed as well as nursing intervention that includes social support such as medical staff support. Education level, existence of stoma, anxiety and depression should also be taken into account.
Anxiety ; Colon* ; Colonic Neoplasms* ; Depression ; Education ; Family Characteristics ; Friends ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Medical Staff ; Nursing ; Occupations

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the health-related quality of life (HQOL) and depression in prostate cancer patients with radial prostatectomy or hormonal therapy more than 6 months ago. METHODS: A total of 116 patients participated in the study (83 radical prostatectomy patients and 33 hormonal therapy). Data were collected from 13th September to 13th November 2012, using two instruments-translated into Korean: Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite and Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form. RESULTS: Hormonal therapy participants reported significantly higher scores of HQOL than radical prostatectomy participants did (p=.002). The HQOL subscales with significant differences were urinary function (p<.001) and incontinence (p<.001) under urinary domain and sexual bother (p<.001) under sexual domain. The level of depression was not significantly different between the two treatment groups. There were moderate negative correlations between HQOL and depression in both groups. CONCLUSION: Many of prostate cancer patients reported treatment-related functional deteriorations in urinary and sexual domains and they were depressed even more than 6 months after the treatment completion. To manage prostate cancer patients' HQOL and depression, clinicians including nurses should evaluate patients' complaints according to their treatment modality and intervene accordingly.
Depression* ; Hormone Replacement Therapy ; Humans ; Prostatectomy* ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Quality of Life*

PURPOSE: This study was to examine attitude to death and life satisfaction between groups of elderly people with and without cancer. METHODS: This study used a descriptive research design. Data were collected from January to March 2013. Participants were 66 elderly without cancer and 65 elderly with cancer. A questionnaire was used to collect data. RESULTS: The attitude to death of participants was relatively positive and the degree of life satisfaction was medium or greater. There was no significant difference in attitude to death between the groups with and without cancer. However, the score for the life satisfaction of the group without cancer was significantly higher than that of the group with cancer. Attitude to death was significantly different according to sex, living together with family, and intention to prepare for death. Life satisfaction was significantly different according to gender and religion. The correlation between attitude to death and life satisfaction was not significant in both groups. CONCLUSION: As a result of this study the elderly had a generally positive attitude to death and were satisfied with their lives. Cancer influenced elderly people's life satisfaction, not their attitude towards death. To improve life satisfaction for elderly people with cancer, we need to research which factors could be important.
Aged* ; Attitude to Death* ; Humans ; Intention ; Research Design ; Surveys and Questionnaires