Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
This study compared the quality of life scores between the control
and the intervention groups on the RSCL. There was a statistical
significance noted after the first cycle between the mean scores of
the treatment and control groups. The scores in the intervention
group were much lower. The comparison of scores showed that the
patients in the control group improved as they progressed through
their treatment but the QOL of the patients in the intervention
group decreased. However, overall the scores in the intervention
group were lower than the control group and the scores for both
groups post the third and fourth cycles were the same. Perhaps the
scores increased in the intervention group because they were given
several opportunities to discuss specific symptom and personal
issues with one of the nursing research team at various intervals
throughout their treatment, whereas the control group may not
have focused as much on their personal or symptom issues or
indeed have had an opportunity to discuss them with the health
care team. Or maybe it was to do with the coping styles that cancer
patients used and the influence this has on the possible side-effects
of chemotherapy as examined by Lerman et al (1990) and
discussed earlier in the literature review, which suggests that
information seekers experience more symptom problems than those
who avoid any information.
Body Image
It is not difficult to understand how the experience of cancer can
affect body and self. It can remove the certainty that the body can
be relied upon. Most of the females interviewed said that they found
having breast surgery very difficult. One patient described how she
was unable to look at her body image in a mirror since having her
surgery. This is not surprising as in our society breasts symbolise
motherhood, nurturing, child rearing and the traditional woman’s
role and are also viewed as an essential part for seduction and
sexual pleasure (Wellard and Joyce 2000). The prospect of breast
surgery and associated treatment creates fear and concern about
future survival, and also raises anxiety related to alterations to body
image, loss of femininity and changes in personal relationships.
Another patient described how she would not allow her husband see
her naked as she ‘felt like a freak’ since she had her mastectomy.
Women today equate body image, their sense of attractiveness, and
personal worth with sexuality and gender identity. Two of the
female patients said that there were occasions when they would
have liked to discuss their problems about their altered body image
with the chemotherapy nurses but they felt the nurses were far too
busy and were more concerned with giving them their
chemotherapy than listening to them. This is an example of how
nurses use blocking behaviours to prevent patients discussing
sensitive issues with them and needs to be addressed. Having
- 210 -