The objective of this study was to learn about the assistance provided by others to support the recovery of eating habits for cancer patients discharged from hospital following esophageal reconstructive surgery.

Seven outpatients who did not undergo postoperative adjuvant therapy in the period from 2 months to about 1 year after undergoing esophageal reconstructive surgery participated in the study. The study method consisted of reviews of patient records and interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. Analysis consisted of extracting the parts of the transcripts pertaining to the assistance that patients received from others to help them regain their eating habits after discharge, and categorizing semantically similar content.

The following seven top-level categories of help were extracted: ①in regaining appetite, ②in making eating a pleasant experience, ③in enabling the patient to eat freely according to his own needs, ④in promoting ways to deal with pain that accompanies eating, ⑤in promoting efficient food intake, ⑥in promoting changes in eating habits, and ⑦in obtaining new awareness.

Assistance from others in the recovery of eating habits by cancer patients who have been discharged from the hospital following esophageal reconstructive surgery included helping the patient feel better about eating, helping to make eating a pleasant and autonomous experience for the patient, helping to reduce the amount of pain involved in eating, helping the patient obtain new eating habits, and helping to increase the patient’s self-awareness. The study suggested that to establish new eating habits for patients who have undergone esophageal reconstructive surgery, they must be provided with emotional support with consideration for their feelings about eating before they eat, that educational support with regards to how to deal with the patient must be provided to those supporting them, and that the patients need help in being encouraged to objectively be aware of their sense of self on their own.

The aims of this study are to clarify how end-of-life cancer patients recognize their own calmness of mind, when they achieve it, how they maintain it. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. The participants were ten end-of-life cancer patients undergoing either palliative home care or in-hospital palliative care at palliative care units.

As a result of analysis, we extracted the following six categories of calmness of mind in cancer end-of-life patients: “conditions of a patient seeking calmness of mind” “an environment that forms a foundation for calmness of mind,” “experiences that a patient recognizes to be calmness of mind,” “changes in recognition due to calmness of mind,” “conditions that shake calmness of mind,” and “coping to maintain calmness of mind.”

The process through which a cancer patient recognizes calmness for the end of life includes “conditions of a patient seeking calmness of mind.” Patients feel calm in accepting their medical treatments when“an environment that forms a foundation for calmness of mind” and when they have “experiences that a patient recognizes to be calmness of mind.” It is considered that end-of-life cancer patients were able to recognize calmness of mind because they had a modest experience in daily life and their needs were met in an environment where they are able to continue to receive palliative care. The significance of being able to recognize calmness of mind at the end of life is not only in the healing effect, but also in positively reconsidering their life through “changes in recognition due to calmness of mind,” and raising the possibility that they can live their own life until the end despite experiencing pain.

The purpose of the present study is to elucidate the feeling of solidarity between patients with terminal phase cancer and their family members as perceived by family members. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews of 10 family members who were the primary care givers of hospitalized patients with terminal cancer in the palliative care wards of two prefectures. The data obtained was qualitatively analyzed by an inductive approach. As a result, we found four elements regarding a sense of solidarity between patients and their family members, as perceived by the family members. The four elements included: ‘unwavering trust’, ‘a rise in determination’, ‘undispellable remorse’, and ‘the dying wishes held by a patient and the family member’.

We describe the feeling of solidarity between patients and their family members as a basis of ‘unwavering trust’ that arises from 　the recognition of an irreplaceable band with each other. Though the family members feel ‘undispellable remorse’, they encourage themselves by changing their remorse to ‘a rise in determination’. Moreover they build up stronger bonds by trying to realize ‘the dying wishes held by a patient and the family member’. For nursing support, the following suggestions were obtained, namely, to encourage them to spend time and talk with the patients and their families, to support patients and family members in maintaining their aid actions for each other and make sure they are given positive feedback, to alleviate the remorse of the family members, and to realize the wishes of the a patient and the family member.

The purpose of this study is to investigate what type of nursing support are provided as a part of advanced care planning (ACP) so that patients can live with autonomy and dignity until their deaths. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 12 nurses, and the data was analyzed qualitatively and inductively.

The following four aspects were extracted on nursing support in ACP with cancer patients: Respect for the values of patients, Assistance with decision-making, Arrangement for end of life care, and Ongoing support. While understanding patients’ values through daily communication, nurses were involved in addressing patients’ future concerns and providing decision-making support through multiple types of approaches, including multidisciplinary team collaboration, coordination of social resources and family care.

The areas of decision-making assistance revolved around end of life care, places to live while receiving treatment and care,and arrangements of surrogate decision makers. Additionally, ACP was carried out throughout the care process instead of being completed it once a plan was made, which suggests the importance of nurses’ continuous involvement in the ACP proces.

This study aimed to clarify difficulties of mothers who are breast cancer patients and are undergoing outpatient chemotherapy, and skills for coping with those difficulties. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 mothers with breast cancer who were receiving such chemotherapy. We then examined the results using qualitative content analysis techniques. We recognized five categories of these women’s difficulties as mothers: commitment to growth and development and taking care of their children in accordance with the children’s developmental stage, watching over their children’s growth despite personally having limited ability to leave the home, maintaining the image of being a mother, maintaining relationships with their children, and supporting their children’s lives. In the mothers’ dealing with their difficulties, six identified categories were: practicing self-management to deal with side effects, adjusting one’s role by using surrounding support to give their children continuity, involvement in anticipating their children’s thinking, encouraging self-reliance in their children, identifying what one is not capable of, and entrusting things to people around them.

The present study’s findings detail the difficulties of a mother’s role with relation to the chemotherapy side effects. These women attempted to cope with their situations by using alternative methods such as self-management of side effects and adjusting how they provided support, to the extent possible. It is important to understand each mother’s difficulties based on self-management practices and create a reassuring environment that provides adequate nursing support.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of individuals with recurrent cancer.

Methods: This qualitative descriptive study used a phenomenological approach. Unstructured interviews were conducted with three patients who had recurrent cancer and were receiving medical care in the department of surgery of a general hospital. Analysis of the interview data was based on Murakami’s method and informed by Heideggerian philosophy.

Results: The participants in this study often spoke of death as an “if,” but they felt it was not merely hypothetical but a reality. They attempted to move time forward “little by little” to ensure they lived in a way that felt tangible. In addition, instead of viewing and generalizing themselves as patients with cancer, they switched to their own mode of living and were motivated by maintaining a close distance where they could help others with their “own hand.”

Conclusion: While treating death as an “if” and approaching the future little by little, the patients with recurrent cancer in this study moved closer to others, had experiences where they could make themselves useful, and thereby began to weave their own stories.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the current status of exercise support for cancer survivors by nurses and related factors. We conducted an anonymous questionnaire-based survey of nurses involved in oncology nursing at five general hospitals and obtained responses from 463 nurses (valid response rate, 98.5%). We included questions were regarding attributes and implementation status of providing exercise support, knowledge of prophylactic benefits of exercise and obstacles to and needs for providing exercise support. Factors related to exercise explored using logistic regression analysis. Exercise support for cancer survivors was provided by 193 nurses (41.7%). Among items regarding prophylactic benefits of exercise, most of the nurses were familiar improvements in quality of life (329 nurses, 71.1%) and sleep (310 nurses, 66.9%), while less were familiar with fatigue relief (125 nurses, 27.0%) and reduced recurrence risk (129 nurses, 27.8%). Ten factors related to exercise support were identified, including sex, percentage of cancer care, exercise habits, including anxiety reduction, safety of exercise, duration of exercise, patients’ lack of knowledge, and family needs. These results showed that the implementation rate of exercise support for cancer survivors by nurses was low. The factors were nurses’ lack of knowledge regarding prophylactic benefits of exercise, support methodology, patients’ lack of knowledge and family needs. To promote exercise support for cancer survivors, it is important to disseminate knowledge regarding prophylactic benefits of exercise to nurses as well as to patients and their families.