Turning Toward the Psychosocial Domain of Oncology Nursing

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive exploratory study by the Dutch Oncology Nursing Society was to describe the problem areas in the care of patients who are receiving chemotherapy as perceived by patients and professional caregivers as well as to explore differences between the perceptions of patients and professional caregivers. Three independent samples of 120 patients who are being treated with chemotherapy, 42 chemotherapy prescribing medical specialists, and 68 oncology nurses who are involved in the daily bedside care of the patients undergoing chemotherapy participated in the study. Patients and professional caregivers completed a 69- and a 58-item self-administered questionnaire, respectively. Results show that patients were satisfied with the medical and nursing care they received. Furthermore, results suggest that professional caregivers perceive the experience of patients with chemotherapy differently than patients, eg, patients perceive chemotherapy as reassuring that something is being done; whereas caregivers think that patients experience chemotherapy as something to fear or be anxious or uncertain about. It further seems that professional caregivers are more prone to act upon the medical-technical aspects of the treatment than to act on psychosocial sequelae of the treatment.

Measuring the impact of nurse cue-response behaviour on cancer patients’ emotional cues

“…This differs from Uitterhoeve et al [25] who found that both patients and health professionals were of the belief that less attention was given to patients' relatives. The finding of the present study differs in that patient and family needs are given equal consideration and that family needs are not necessarily being overlooked.…”

“…The recent trend towards out-patient care has resulted in increasing responsibility for families, and exacerbation of their emotional load [24,25]. However, both patients and HPs consider that less attention is generally given to relatives [25].…”

“…The recent trend towards out-patient care has resulted in increasing responsibility for families, and exacerbation of their emotional load [24,25]. However, both patients and HPs consider that less attention is generally given to relatives [25]. Accordingly, several authors have expressed a need for providing psychological care for both cancer patients and their families and improving HP communication in consultations where family members are present [1,3,[26][27][28].…”

Nurse–patient communication in cancer care: does responding to patient's cues predict patient satisfaction with communication

“…Findings from a recent descriptive study showed that patients are dissatisfied with the tendency of oncologists and oncology nurses not to pay attention to the emotional consequences of cancer diagnosis and treatment [10]. These findings concur with studies [11][12][13][14][15][16] reporting that the emotional dimension of provider communication is an important factor in determining patient satisfaction.…”

Psychosocial interventions for patients with advanced cancer – a systematic review of the literature

“…Professional caregivers appear to be selective in their receptiveness of patients' needs, focus on physical problems and to a much lesser extent on emotional problems and psychosocial needs. This implies that psychological problems and emotional needs are not adequately assessed (Heaven and Maguire, 1997;Sanson-Fisher et al, 2000;Fallowfield et al, 2001) and consequently addressed (Wilkinson, 1991;Dennison, 1995;Ford et al, 1996;Maguire et al, 1996;Heaven and Maguire, 1997;Suchman et al, 1997;Maguire, 1999;Osse et al, 2000;Andersen and Adamsen, 2001;Uitterhoeve et al, 2003).…”