Abstract 5291: Professional nurses' awareness and practice with sexual concerns of the oncology patient

Abstract

Abstract Sexuality is an important aspect of quality of life (QOL). QOL after cancer therapy is an important aspect of patient care of which sexual wellbeing forms part of the holistic nursing care although sexuality assessment is recognized as an important part of nursing care, in practice it has been observed that professional nurses may experience some difficulties to this aspect. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the awareness, practice and possible barriers of professional nurses when engaging in conversation about sexuality with patients receiving cancer treatment in a private oncology care setting in Pretoria, South Africa. Objectives: The research objectives were: Ø To explore and describe the awareness and practice of professional nurses to engage in conversation about sexuality with the patient receiving cancer treatment in a private oncology setting in Pretoria. Ø To describe possible barriers that prohibit professional nurses to engage in conversation with patients receiving cancer treatment in a private oncology setting regarding sexuality Ø To make recommendations to improve nursing practice with regard to nursing care related to sexuality in the private oncology care setting. Method: An exploratory, descriptive and qualitative design was followed. A convenient purposive sample consisting of nine participants who met the inclusion criteria participated. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, while Creswell's method of data analysis was applied. Trustworthy measures included credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. This study obtained ethical clearance from all stakeholders. Results: The themes embarrassment, cultural beliefs and values emerged as barriers to engage in conversation about sexuality while, referring to a specialist in the field as suggested support to cancer treated patients arose. Limited knowledge about intensive therapy featured as the last theme. The data revealed that professional nurses themselves had restricted views on sexuality and very often would see the patient's body image and associated sexuality as not their responsibility. The concept intensive therapy was not fully understood which led to limited referral to various specialist. Conclusions: Professional nurses should be sensitized and empowered with the skills and knowledge on how patients' perception of their body image changed when been treated with cancer and the effect thereof. Reflective conversations about this sensitive topic could assist in this regard. Citation Format: Maurel C. Emeagi, Hester Rina De Swardt, Martjie De Villiers. Professional nurses' awareness and practice with sexual concerns of the oncology patient [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5291.