An Integrative Review Of Oncology Nursing Research In Korea: 1998-2003

국내 종양간호연구 동향에 관한 연구

The purpose of these study was to analyze the contents and trend of researches done on oncology nursing in the past five years in Korea and to suggest its direction for the future research. Methods: 214 nursing studies published from 1998 to 2003 were selected for the analysis. They were examined for the source, design of study, type of subjects, the intervention outcomes of experimental research, the key words and theme of the oncology research. Results: 1. 139(64.9%) of 214 studies were masters thesis and doctoral dissertations. There were 196(91.6%) quantitative researches and 18 qualitative researches. Quantitative research consisted of 28(14.3%) experimental and 168(85.7%) non- experimental studies. Among non-experimental studies, there were 53 correlations, 78 descriptives, 14 comparatives and 23 methodological studies. 2.The main subjects of the study were cancer patients in general(43.7%) and breast cancer patients (18.3%). According to the treatment types, patients receiving chemotherapy were the highest number distribution as 23 of all researches. 3. Social support, fatigue, stress, hope, and quality of life were the most frequently used concepts in correlational studies.4. Education, providing information, oral care, exercise, relaxation and foot massage were the most frequent nursing interventions. Most frequently measured outcomes variable were self-care, pain control, nausea & vomiting, oral discomfort and anxiety. 5. Key words used most frequently were quality of life, educational need, pain controls and fatigue. 6. The themes of qualitative researches were illness experience, family experience and adaptation process. More than 50% of qualitative researches used phenomenologic method. Conclusion: Researches on cancer nursing in Korea have been increased. Descriptive design is being dominant and few experimental studies are being done For the future, it is necessary to conduct international studies to compare, replicate and to establish the effective nursing interventions.