Cancer Patients' Needs When Chemotherapy Ends

항암화학요법 종료 시기 암환자의 요구

Purpose: The present study was designed to identify cancer patients' needs when chemotherapy ends. Method: In-depth interview with focus questions was applied for the study. The participants were recruited from the patients receiving cancer chemotherapy in a university hospital. They were seven cancer patients with stomach cancer and two with liver cancer at the ending period of their chemotherapy protocol. Participants were interviewed on discharge date of last treatment and when they returned for the first outpatient follow-up. The focus question was 'what are your needs at this point?' The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed before analysis. The data were analyzed for common categories, special analytic categories, and conceptual categories. Results: Thirty two common categories, ten special analytic categories, and six conceptual categories were identified as patient's needs. The six conceptual categories were comfort needs, social needs, information needs, humanism needs, environmental needs, and self-efficacy needs. Conclusion: There were characteristic specific patients' needs when chemotherapy ends. There are needs to develop and to apply nursing intervention for cancer patients.