2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The needs of cancer patients in regards to rebuilding their daily lives after initial treatment: Challenges for nursing outpatients and short-term hospitalization patients.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19791689
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Clinical nursing
Research Institution	Tokyo Metropolitan University (2009) University of Yamanashi (2007-2008)
Principal Investigator	FUKUI Satomi University of Yamanashi, 人間健康科学研究科, 准教授 (20436885)
Project Period (FY)	2007 – 2009
Keywords	がん看護学 / 外来看護
Research Abstract	The objective of this article is, given the current trend of shortened hospitalization, to clarify how a cancer patient receives the necessary after-treatment care and to explain the deficiencies of this trend. 18 gynecologic cancer patients in the initial stages of treatment were asked about their coping style of information seeking (MBSS), their quality of life (FACIT-O and POMS), the details of the actual social support they received, and their support needs upon being discharged from the hospital (T1), 1 to 3 months after T1 (T2), and 6 to 12 months after T1 (T3). The results indicate that at T1 most patients received informational support in regards to their daily care from their primary physician while some patients received informational support from their nurses. At T2 and also at T3, a few patients wanted to receive additional information and support regardless of their coping style, their quality of life, or the stage of their cancer. In order to receive this information and support, some of these patients contacted their hospital's floor nurse by telephone. In addition, some of the patients who were suffering complications and were receiving treatment from multiple physicians reported a need for a single place where they could ask questions and receive support.