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
completed it they were reminded of their cancer or chemotherapy
treatment.
The information needs of patients differed as they progressed
through their treatment and some patients did not want to know
anything about their potential treatment or illness. These patients
described how they used denial as a coping mechanism and health
care professionals should be able to recognise when denial is being
used in a positive way and not force information on patients or label
them as ‘not coping with their illness’. Many patients were using
complementary therapies to help them cope with their cancer
diagnosis and the effects of treatment, especially nausea but most
of them using them in this study had to self-fund.
The analysis of the quality of life questionnaires gave an insight into
the levels of psychological and physical morbidity that patients
experienced whilst progressing through their treatment. The results
indicate that the range of side-effects experienced by patients can
be extensive. The anxiety and depression scores from the QOL
questionnaires were higher in the control group but the fact that the
research nursing team supported the patients in the intervention
group throughout their treatment may have resulted in their scores
being lower, as has been suggested by other studies (Hope-Stone et
al 1997). Many researchers have found that anxiety can lead to an
increase in patterns of nausea and vomiting (Dibble et al 2004;
Morrow 2002; McRonald & Fleisher 2005). However the findings
from this study did not support this as the patients in the
intervention group reported more episodes of vomiting than the
patients in the control group.
Most of the patients complained of indigestion at some stage of
their treatment and this may have been due to the steroids
prescribed for them to help combat nausea and vomiting or from
the chemotherapy treatment itself. Many of them needed an antacid
prescribed or had to change their dietary habits drastically to help
combat it. This side-effect of chemotherapy caused much distress to
the patients in this study and its effect on the QOL of patients has
been underestimated or underreported in the past. Fatigue has a
profound effect on an individual’s ability to live a normal life whilst
undergoing chemotherapy. Most of the patients described it as
having an adverse effect on their everyday quality of life. To date
only a small number of studies on fatigue have been evaluated
through empirical research and there is conflicting evidence relating
to the effectiveness of management strategies. Nevertheless, the
findings from these studies can be of some use in supporting
patients with fatigue, although it must be remembered that fatigue
is a very personal experience and what benefits some individuals
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