Abstract
This study aims to clarify the psychosocial reactions of female patients with gynecological cancer undergoing chemotherapy and in the process of suffering from alopecia and to examine their nursing support. The target group comprised female patients who had received two or more cycles of chemotherapy, were suffering from alopecia, and were aged 30-65. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, conducted from the time the patients were informed by their doctors that they might experience alopecia due to chemotherapy to the time they actually experienced alopecia and until they were able to accept the change. Inductive qualitative analysis was employed to close in on the subjective experiences of the cancer patients. The results showed the existence of six phases in the psychosocial reactions in the process of alopecia: phase one was the reaction after the doctor's explanation; phase two was the reaction when the hair starts to fall out; phase three was the reaction when the hair starts to intensely fall out; phase four was the reaction when the hair has completely fallen out; phase five was the reaction to behavior for coping with alopecia; and phase six was the reaction to change in interpersonal human relationships. The results also made it clear that there are five types of reaction patterns as follows: 1) treatment priority interpersonal relationship maintenance type; 2) alopecia agitated interpersonal relationship maintenance type; 3) alopecia agitated interpersonal relationship reduction type; 4) alopecia denial interpersonal relationship reduction type; and 5) alopecia denial treatment interruption type. It is important to find out which of the five types the patients belong to early during treatment and provide support so that nursing intervention that suits each individual can be practiced. The purpose of this study is to make clear the process in which patients receiving chemotherapy come to accept alopecia and to examine evidence-based nursing care on patients with strong mental distress from alopecia.
Highlights
Alopecia is a side-effect that frequently accompanies chemotherapy (Kanda et al, 1998), and it does not have a direct connection with someone’s life being in crisis
This study aims to clarify the psychosocial reactions of female patients with gynecological cancer undergoing chemotherapy and in the process of suffering from alopecia and to examine their nursing support
Patient who suffer from alopecia due to chemotherapy undertaken in cancer treatments view themselves as a sick person when they look at their reflection in the mirror
Summary
Alopecia is a side-effect that frequently accompanies chemotherapy (Kanda et al, 1998), and it does not have a direct connection with someone’s life being in crisis. Patient who suffer from alopecia due to chemotherapy undertaken in cancer treatments view themselves as a sick person when they look at their reflection in the mirror. This makes them strongly aware that they are a cancer patient (Williams et al, 1999), and it has been pointed out that this impacts their body image. Despite the fact that alopecia is a symptom that increases the patient’s suffering, there have been some reports on the effectiveness of scalp creams (Dean and Salmon, 1979; Gregory et al, 1982; Mols et al, 2008; Van der Hurk, et al, 2010; Van der Hurk, et al, 2012; Van der Hurk, et al, 2012; Ekwall et al, 2013; Komen et al, 2013), but there are no established precautionary measures
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