Objective: The study aimed to identify effective nursing practices of certified nurse specialists in gerontological nursing (GCNS) for older adults with dementia and cancer.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven GCNSs, and the data were qualitatively analyzed.

Results: The narratives of the subjects were nursing practice in acute care hospitals, special nursing homes and/or home care nursing. As nursing practice for older adults with both dementia and cancer, 66 codes, 11 subcategories and 3 categories were identified: alleviating complicated physical and psychological pain caused by cancer and dementia, harnessing the positive aspects of cancer and dementia coexistence and examining the meaning of cancer diagnosis and treatment for people with dementia.

Conclusions: The GCNSs alleviated the complicated physical and psychological pain caused by cancer while taking the patient's dementia into consideration. They provided nursing care that makes the coexistence of dementia and cancer advantageous for patients, such as greater access to medical and welfare services and more predictability of disease status. Because dementia makes it difficult for nurses to understand patients’ intentions, the meaning of cancer diagnosis and treatment for patients was discussed together with their families and support providers.

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the transition process of young adult cancer survivors who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and were subsequently followed-up with as outpatients after discharge.

Method: The study involved five participants, aged between 20 to 40, who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in their 20s and were followed-up with long-term after discharge. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data were analyzed qualitatively and inductively, using the conceptual framework of transitions theory.

Results: The type of transition process experienced by young adult cancer survivors following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was a health/disease transition. Transplantation initiated changes that led to multiple, sequential transitions, which were interrelated down to the response pattern. The characteristics of young adult survivors who underwent transplantation were marked by “progressing toward their goals” while simultaneously “dealing with new life events” and “feeling conflicted about not being able to live the life they had envisioned”. Psychologically, there were conflicting meanings of “acceptance of the positive aspects of the transplant experience” and “acceptance of the negative aspects of the transplant experience”, and the participants evidently struggled to regulate their psychological state.

Discussion: The transition process for young adult cancer survivors who have undergone transplantation involves a struggle to achieve engagement and progress toward mastery. Therefore, it is essential for care providers to support survivors throughout the entire transition process.

Purpose: This study was aimed at clarifying the experiences of working-age patients with advanced colorectal cancer related to their employment from when they were first diagnosed to before the start of their initial treatment and gathering feedback for nursing support regarding the employment of these patients.

Methods: Ten patients with advanced colorectal cancer aged 20-60 years who were employed when they first received their cancer diagnosis were included in the study. These patients’ thoughts and actions regarding their employment at the time of diagnosis were analyzed qualitatively and descriptively through semi-structured interviews using an interview guide.

Results: The employment experiences of working-age patients with advanced colorectal cancer from the time of diagnosis to the start of their initial treatment were summarized into the following nine categories: “Bewildered by the cancer diagnosis,” “Facing colorectal cancer while recognizing reality,” “Focusing on the planned therapy,” “Considering the impact of treatment on work and income,” “Considering the situation carefully and having opportunities to keep in close contact with those critical to their work,” “Intending to continue working even after the cancer diagnosis,” and “Realizing the availability of family support throughout the process from diagnosis to treatment.”

Discussion: Working-age patients with advanced colorectal cancer considered their work from the time of their cancer diagnosis, made plans for their future, stayed connected with those critical to their work activities, and expressed a desire to continue working even after their cancer diagnosis. To support these patients’ intentions to continue working, it was suggested that nurses should actively provide information on treatment details that may affect employment and confirm patients’ perceptions from the time of diagnosis.

This was a longitudinal assessment of the quality of life of patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer undergoing cancer drug therapy and aimed to identify trends and shifts in quality of life over time. We compared baseline quality of life between patients who were able to continue treatment and those who did not. The participants were 22 patients diagnosed between June 2021 and March 2023 at Hospital A. Quality of life was measured at four points during the first-line treatment for three months, including before the start of the treatment, using the self-administered European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). Ten patients completed four courses of first-line treatment. Although the global health score [GHS] and role functioning [RF] (as measured by the C30 scales) improved by the second course, these gains declined by the fourth course. We compared the baseline C30 scores between the two groups: the continuous group, including ten patients who completed the treatment and eight patients who had to change treatments due to disease progression, and the non-continuous group of four patients who did not complete the treatment. The non-continuous group showed significantly lower physical functioning [PF] and RF. GHS and RF scores were lower than the standard deviations of the reference values in the EORTC QLQ. These findings underscore the need for enhanced nursing support during the third course and the importance of personalized support that anticipates clinical trajectories based on pretreatment quality-of-life assessments.

Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the practice and learning needs of rehabilitation nurses while caring for patients with brain tumors.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 nurses involved in the care of patients with brain tumors. The responses were qualitatively analyzed based on “practices” and “learning needs” related to rehabilitation nursing for brain tumor patients.

Results: For “practice,” the theme of “Rehabilitation care for patients with brain tumors as perceived by nurses” emerged. Regarding “learning needs,” the theme of “issues in rehabilitation care for patients with brain tumors as perceived by nurses” was identified. Nurses involved with patients with brain tumors were exploring the practice of rehabilitation nursing while having learning needs that reflected the disease-specific characteristics of brain tumors.

Discussion: It is considered necessary to develop nursing education methods that address the learning needs by integrating the knowledge and skills possessed by nurses.

This study aimed to determine the ways of coping with fatigue in patients with primary breast cancer undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 patients diagnosed with primary breast cancer who were undergoing neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy and analyzed the data qualitatively and descriptively.

The following seven categories were extracted as ways of coping with fatigue: “select what needs to be done and get through the current situation,” “adjust the amount of activities while assessing one’s physical condition,” “be aware of the pace at which one moves and finding ways to avoid exhaustion,” “expand activities in one’s own way and gain new vitality,” “be aware of not being able to do activities to match one’s own recovery,” “get the help one needs to maintain life as usual,” and “endure situations that are not the way one wants them to be alone.” In response to the variability of fatigue, patients did not simply reduce their energy expenditure but were also aware of their bodies; they acted with attention to the quantity and quality of their activities, using their physical condition for the day as an indicator. They also expanded their activities and sought those that would suit them.

The results suggest that nursing is important for improving patients’ ability to cope with fatigue by providing methods to adapt activities to life obstacles and indicators of activities tailored to patients.