Korean Journal of Adult Nursing (성인간호학회지)

Korean Society of Adult Nursing (한국성인간호학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

The Impact of Cancer Diagnosis and Its Treatment on Korean Women's Lives: A Meta-synthesis Study

  • Suh, Eunyoung E. (College of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2015.01.29
  • Accepted : 2015.02.11
  • Published : 2015.02.28
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Purpose: Korean women, who have come to the forefront at a risk of cancer, have been notable objects for qualitative nursing research in last a couple of decades. Given the imparity and varieties of those findings, this study was aimed to synthesize the impact of cancer diagnosis and its treatment on Korean women's lives using a qualitative meta-synthesis method. Methods: By searching five English-based databases and four Korean databases, 21 qualitative studies on Korean women's particular experiences of cancer diagnosis and treatment since 2000 were included. Using a meta-synthesis process by Sandelowski & Barroso (2007), the selected studies were synthesized for interpretive integration of the findings. Results: The meta-synthesis elicited three themes: detachment from the usualness, awareness of profound desires, and redefinition of every relation. With destructive experiences of a diagnosis and its treatments, Korean women felt apart from their everyday life, daily roles, and even from their own body. They then grasped a strong desire for life and for beauty, and reconfirmed the sense of mission for being a mother. Those changes made them to reconstruct all relations surrounded them. Conclusion: The findings yield a substantive portrait of the given issue, which could be helpful for health care professionals.

Keywords

References

  1. Korea Central Cancer Registry. National Cancer Statistics in 2012. Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do: National Cancer Information Center; 2014 [cited 2014 December 14]. Available from: http://www.cancer.go.kr/mbs/cancer/
  2. Sim Y, Jeong J, Yun J. Discourse and reality of motherhood. Seoul, Korea: Nanam; 2000.
  3. Spector RE. Cultural diversity in health and illness. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.; 2004.
  4. Helman CG. Culture, health, and illness. 4th ed. Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2000.
  5. Chung CW, Hwang EK. Couples' experiences of breast cancer in Korea. Cancer Nursing. 2012;35(3):211-20. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCC.0b013e31822a60db
  6. Paterson BL, Thorne SE, Canam C, Jillins C. Meta-study of qualitative health research: a practical guide to meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 2001.
  7. Sandelowski M, Barroso J. Handbook for synthesizing qualtiative research. New York, NY: Springer; 2007.
  8. Finfgeld DL. Metasynthesis: the state of the art - so far. Qualitative Health Research. 2003;13(7):893-904. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732303253462
  9. Yang JH. The actual experiences of the living world among cancer patients. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing. 2008;38(1):140-51. https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2008.38.1.140
  10. Graneheim UH, Lundman B. Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures, and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nursing Education Today. 2004;24:105-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2003.10.001
  11. Zimmer L. Qualitative meta-synthesis: a question of dialoguing with texts. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2006;53(3):311-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03721.x
  12. Bennion AE, Molassiotis A. Qualitative research into the symptom experiences of adult cancer patients after treatments: a systematic review and meta-synthesis. Supportive Care in Cancer. 2013;21(1):9-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00520-012-1573-x.
  13. Bertero C, Wilmoth MC. Breast cancer diagnosis and its treatment affecting the self: a meta-synthesis. Cancer Nursing. 2007;30(3):194-202. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NCC.0000270707.80037.4c
  14. Wilkinson HR, das Nair R. The psychological impact of the unpredictability of multiple sclerosis: a qualitative literature metasynthesis. British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. 2013;9(4):172-8. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjnn.2013.9.4.172
  15. Wells M, Williams B, Firnigl D, Lang H, Coyle J, Kroll T, et al. Supporting 'work-related goals' rather than 'return to work' after cancer? A systematic review and meta-synthesis of 25 qualitative studies. Psycho-Oncology. 2013;22(6):1208-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pon.3148

Cited by

  1. How do Lung Cancer Patients Experience Stigma?: A Meta-synthesis of Qualitative Studies vol.28, pp.1, 2016, https://doi.org/10.7475/kjan.2016.28.1.116
  2. 유방암 여성의 즉시 유방재건술에 따른 신체 변화와 신체상의 의미 vol.51, pp.2, 2015, https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.21028