The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the lived experience of leukemia patients by eliciting their verbal description of the experience. Participants were persons who were diagnosed with leukemia at the hospital and living at home after treatment. Data were obtained from interview of five leukemia patients and experience journals of 10 leukemia patients. Interview were tape recorded and transcribe verbation. The transcripts were analyzed by Colaizzi method. Major theme clusters that were emerged from the analysis are "Urgency or Impendence", "Terribleness or Miserableness", "Uncertainty", "Searching for hope" and "Spiritual well-being". The results of this study may help nurse to implement more efficient nursing strategies for leukemia patients by deeply understanding their lived experience and to develop quality of life program for leukemia patients.
Humans ; Leukemia* ; Nursing ; Quality of Life

This study was designed to test the correlation between spiritual well-being and quality of life and to identify this variable on quality of life. The subjects were 70 cancer patients of select hospitals in Seoul. Ellison(1983)'s spiritual well-being scale, Padilla's quality of life scale were used after some modification. The results & conclusions are as follows : 1. The score on the spiritual well-being scale ranged from 47 to 120 with a mean of 81.40(SD : 13.98). 2. The score on the quality of life scale ranged from 72 to 166 with a mean of 119.67(SD : 21.71). 3. In the relationship between social-demographic & spiritual well-being were significant difference in religion, the degree of faith & education. 4. There were significant correlations between spiritual well-being and quality of life. (gamma=.584, P<.001) 5. Existential spiritual well-being had significant effect on quality of life.(37%) In conclusion, the results propose the processes from spiritual well-being to quality of Life through religion. Spiritual well-being intervention programs are needed to improve the quality of life in cancer patients.
Education ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Seoul

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to suggest the projected manpower of hospice and palliative care nurses & APNs(advanced practice nurses)needed in the future. METHOD: Need model, ratio model and expert opinion were used for projecting the number of hospice and palliative care nurses & APNs. RESULT: 1. The number of Korean hospice facilities was 64 in 2002. The number of hospice nurses in 2001 was 194 and that of beds was 407. 2. The number of hospice target patients was estimated at a minimum of 16,415 to a maximum of 25,254 in 2002, 12,366 to 26,389 in 2005, and 14,057 to 30,000 in 2020. 3. The number of hospice and palliative nurses needed to meet the demands in 2002, 2005 and 2020 was estimated at a minimum of 1,136 to maximum of 1,748, 1,187 to 1,826, and 1,349 to 2,076, respectively. 4. The number of hospice & palliative care APNs needed to meet the demands in 2002, 2005 and 2020 was estimated at 232, 242, and 274, respectively. CONCLUSION: The legalization of hospice is expected to increase demands for hospice nurses and advanced practice hospice and palliative care nurses in the future.
Expert Testimony ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Palliative Care*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a spirituality/hope promoting program on fighting spirit, helplessness, anxiety, and self-care behaviors. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group pretest- posttest design was used. Study subjects were 22 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy for the experimental group and 31 for the control group. The experimental group received a 4-week intervention, 30-50 minutes a day weekly. Variables were measured at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks later. Fighting spirit and helplessness were measured by MAC(Mental Adjustment to Cancer) and anxiety was measured by Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale. Self-care behaviors scale developed by Oh et al.,(1997) was used. RESULTS: The experimental group revealed significantly more fighting spirit(t=-4.10, p=.000). more self-care behaviors(t=-5.91, p=.000). and less helplessness(t=3.94, p=.000). No difference, however, was found in anxiety between the two groups(t=.24, p=.861). CONCLUSION: These results suggested positive effects of a spirituality/hope intervention program. Helplessness decreased mainly through an increase in fighting spirit. Self-care behaviors increased mainly through an decrease in helplessness and increase in fighting spirit.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Humans ; Self Care ; Spirituality

PURPOSE: This study explored and described the living spiritual experience and was attempted to gain an understanding of spirituality. This was done by eliciting participants' verbal descriptions of their experiences. METHOD: Data was obtained from in-depth interviews with one cancer patient, one pastor, and three missionaries after obtaining informed consent from each. Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Sandelowski's evaluation criteria for qualitative research, such as reliability, suitability and auditability, were also used to establish reliability and validity of this study. RESULT: The five major theme clusters that designated the essence of the spiritual experience, "spiritual awareness," "interconnectedness," "love," "transcendent energy," "purpose and meaning in life," emerged from the analysis. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that spirituality was activated by awareness through introspection and interconnectedness with a Supreme Being. The interconnectedness with a Supreme Being played an important role in harmonious relationships with others and self. It also resulted in revealing the other beneticial attributes of spirituality. Love, the core concept of the interconnectedness, worked as a transcendent energy. Also, the ability to see beyond reality and resulted in finding meaning in life and accomplishing well being.
Humans ; Informed Consent ; Love ; Missions and Missionaries ; Qualitative Research ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spirituality*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a Web-based flash content for fighting spirit promotion and to test its effect on cancer patients' fighting spirit. METHODS: The 15-minute long Web-based flash content was developed using the following 5 process: analysis, planning, development, program operation and evaluation stages and utilized the multiple edition and revision processes from December 2005 to August 2006. The evaluation was done by one group pretest-posttest design. Study subjects were 17 cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The group were received a 2-week intervention, a day weekly, and measured the variables at baseline, 4 weeks later. The study was performed from August 2006 to February 2007 at a cancer center in Korea. Fighting spirit was measured by Mini-MAC(Mental Adjustment to Cancer). Data was analysed by descriptive statistics and paired t-test using SAS 9.13 program. RESULTS: On the Web-based flash content, there are 4 menu bars that consisted of cancer diagnosis, symptom management, stress management, and cancer survivorship. The study group revealed significantly more fighting spirit than pre-test(t=-3.04, p=.008). CONCLUSION: This Web-based flash content can be utilized in psychosocial interventions for promoting fighting spirit in patients with cancer.
Humans ; Korea ; Phenothiazines ; Social Planning ; Survival Rate ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to analyze the contents and trend of published research in oncology nursing during the past five years in Korea and to suggest the direction for future research. METHODS: Using the key words "cancer", "cancer patients", and "tumor", 391 nursing research published from 2003 to 2008 were selected for the analysis. RESULTS: 1) Three hundred fifty-five (90.8%) of the studies used quantitative research approach, whereas most studies were descriptive in nature. 2) The main subjects of the study were cancer patients with mixed diagnosis (36.4%) and breast cancer patients (20.0%). 3) Complementary alternative therapy (28.9%), educational program (25.6%), and psycho-social and spiritual program (16.7%) were the most frequently used nursing interventions. Most frequently measured outcome variables were psycho, socio, and spiritual factors (38.8%), symptoms (28.2%) and physiological factors (14.6%). 4) Most frequently used key words were identified as quality of life, fatigue, coping, pain, anxiety, anorexia, and depression. CONCLUSION: The number of published research in oncology nursing in Korea has been increased. It is suggested to conduct international studies to develop, compare, and replicate nursing interventions for patients with cancer in future. Increasing funding, establishing research infrastructure, and removing methodological challenges are warranted for better research environment.
Anorexia ; Anxiety ; Breast Neoplasms ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Financial Management ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing Research ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and to examine the relationship between CIPN and depression. METHODS: A purposive sample of 105 patients treated with chemotherapy were recruited in the cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires. The instruments used were the Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Assessment Tool (CIPNAT) and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). RESULTS: The most frequent suffering symptom of CIPN was 'tingling feeling in the hand and foot'. Of the motor symptoms, 'muscle weakness' was the most frequent symptom and 'muscle or joint aches' was the strongest suffering symptom of CIPN. The mean score for suffering of CIPN was 4.1. The mean score was 1.04 for depression and the prevalence was 48.5%. CIPN was significantly positively correlated with depression (r=.38, p<.001). The result of simple regression analysis revealed that CIPN was predictive of depression (R2=.136, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, nursing intervention programs focusing on CIPN management and alleviating depression are recommended.
Anxiety ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression* ; Drug Therapy ; Hand ; Humans ; Joints ; Nursing ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases* ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to suggest the projected workforce of certified emergency nurses in Korea. METHOD: The methods used in this study are 1) demand & ratio model was used for the projected workforce of CEN, 2) Index functional formula was used for the suggestion of the number of general hospitals and hospitals, 3) Experts in Emergency care were contacted to get an opinion and information about the criteria of distribution and scope of CEN, 4) National and international internet data were collected. RESULT: The demand of CEN were analyzed by two ways; demand of Emergency centers only and demand of emergency centers including community centers. The number of CENs needed to meet the demands in 2002, 2005 and 2010 was estimated at minimum of 1,512 to maximum1,576, 1,640 to 1,704 and 1,892 to 1,956 respectively. The projected number of CENs for the 2002 was 1% total available nurses in Korea, and 3.2 CENs per 100,000 population. CONCLUSION: It is really desirable that CENs not only work for hospital emergency centers but also for emergency related centers in community.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Medical Services ; Hospitals, General ; Internet ; Korea*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify self-leadership and attitude to patient falls and fall prevention behavior in nurses. METHODS: The participants were 178 nurses from two general hospitals in Seoul. Data were collected from March 20 to May 10, 2012 using structured questionnaires which included a Self-leadership scale, Fall attitude scale, and Fall prevention scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and Hierarchial multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN 20.0 program. RESULTS: The mean score for nurses' self-leadership was 3.48 (5 point scale). The average reported fall attitude was 3.59 (5 point scale) and fall prevention behavior was 3.26 (4 point scale). Self-leadership had a 18% explanatory power in fall attitude and a 5% explanatory power in fall prevention behavior. The factors which influenced fall prevention behavior were nurses' fall attitude (beta=.21, p=.009), fall prevention education (beta=.20, p=.007) and self-leadership (beta=.16, p=.047). All of the factors together had a 13.1% explanatory power. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that provision of regularly fall prevention education to nurses is required and should include a program to activate their positive attitude and self-leadership in order to improve fall prevention behavior in nurses.
Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Leadership ; Surveys and Questionnaires