Abstract

Pratum Soivong
Department of Adult Nursing Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

After the diagnosis, breast cancer survivors receive a combination of local and systemic treatments. The major purposes of treatments are intended to treat an existing tumor site without affecting the rest of a patient’s body, kill cancer cells that may have spread beyond the initial cancer site, or reduce the chance of cancer recurrence. Breast cancer survivors experience hardships related to the nature of the disease, treatment protocol, and side-effects of treatment. These hardships involve physiological, psychological, and social problems, which affect their quality of life. The most common physiological problems included fatigue, menopausal symptoms, weight gain, cognitive function, lymphedema, and secondary malignancy. Psychological problems included fear of cancer recurrence, anxiety, and depression. Social problems consisted of sexual relationships, family distress, decreased ability to perform social roles, and problem with work and insurance. To improve breast cancer survivors’ quality of life, their self-care capabilities need to be strengthened in order to manage the consequent effects of treatments and the risk of cancer recurrence. It was found that a supportive-educative nursing system is an appropriate intervention for improving breast cancer survivor’s self-care capabilities. Intervention program should be consisted of group education, self-help group, and individual intervention to meet one’s needs. Helping methods to promote their self-care abilities should be consisted of guiding, supporting in both informational and emotional supports, providing supportive or developmental environment, teaching, counseling, offering referral to appropriate resources, promoting positive attitudes toward their disease and treatment, and encouraging family member to support breast cancer survivor.

Key words: trajectory during diagnosis phase, breast cancer survivors, transition