The Meaning of Chemotherapy in Cancer Patients

암환자가 체험한 화학요범의 의미

This study purports to find out the meanings of chemotherapy among cancer patients. The subjects of this study were selected from those patients who have taken chemotherapy at least twice at a hospital affiliated with a university. The twelve subjects agreed to join the present study and had no problem in communication with others. The data were collected through observations and interviews by the researcher. The phenomenological analysis method proposed by Giorgi was adopted for analyzing the data. The experiences of the subjects to chemotherapy were classified into 24 atributes. These attributes were also categorized into four groups such as hope, pain, fear, and ordea according to their meanings. The subjects expressed hope through the attributes such as "the wish for a new life." "the wish for healing." "the plasure form improvement of cancer." "the wish for being discharged form a hospital." "the interest in dietectic treatment." and "the trust in medical staff." Pain was represented by such attributes as "the physical pain", "the suffering from intravenous injection." "the discomfort of hospital environment." and "the economic burden." As for the attributes represention fear, "fear of being hospitalized." "tehr obscurity of uncertain situations." "the fear of side effects." "the fear of recurrence of cancer," "the lack of knowledge of the disease." Finally, nine attributes werw frouped to ordeal "the will endeavouring to recover cancer" "the adaptation to the present situation." "the giving up of being healthy," "the regret of the past life." "the recognition of significant others." "the physical changes." "the emotional changes." "the social changes." "the recollection of illness experiences." The above findings indicate that chemotherapy means hope, pain, fear, and ordeal to those cancer patinests under treatment. Hence, the nursing interventions for those cancer patients need to be directed to maintaining hope, alleviating pain and fear, and overcoming ordeal. There are some suggestions in achieving these goals : (1) the nurses caring for cancer patients need to understand the meaning of chemotherapy experienced by those patients, (2) a nursing specialty of intravenous injection needs to be developed, (3) interventions for providing emotional support should be devised, (4) nursing care should also be available to those cancer patients being dischaged at home.