Exploring the Process of Experience of Patients with Stomach Cancer Who are Repeatedly Hospitalized for Chemotherapy

Abstract

Abstract

This research was conducted using the Grounded Theory approach with the aim of exploring the process whereby patients with stomach cancer being repeatedly hospitalized for chemotherapy encounter and overcome problems as they continue treatment. By interviewing how the patients with stomach cancer experienced the process of chemotherapy as they made repeated extended stays at the A University Hospital, we found the following three phases. Phase 1 : With a succession of experiences the like of which they had never encountered before, the patients become unhappy and despondent because they feel they have lost control over their lives. Phase 2 : In confronting this unhappiness and despondency, the patients revaluate the situation they have been placed in and come to realize that they themselves have been possessed by obsession of being ill and change their emotional state. Phase 3 : The patients obtain a new sense of controlling their own lives, thereby gaining comfort. In phase 1, what drove the patients into unhappiness and despondence was their sense of being restricted as a result of their diet and their relationships with others. Phase 2 proved to be an important turning point for the patients to continue chemotherapy during their repeated stays in the hospital. Finally, we found the following to be important factors for letting the patients move on to Phase 3, with the Phase 2 as turning point : (1) Whether the patients knew they had cancer or not ; (2) Whether the patients had experienced severe restrictions in lifestyle after being diagnosed with cancer or not ; and (3) Whether the patients were able to feel that the family members and other persons around them were supportive or not.

The results of this research show that the process whereby the research subject, i. e. the patients, overcome their problems and continue treatment includes not only the alleviation of the pain caused by the cancer itself and the treatment, but also the patients' own release from their feeling of being obsessed by their illness and that the latter is an important point in preventing the patients from driving themselves into a corner. They also show that, to achieve this release, the patients need to become aware that they have been obsessed by the illness and accept their unhappy and despondent situation as their own experience. The research results suggest the need for nurses to give the patient assistance in this respect.