The life experience of single mothers for breast cancer survivors

• Main Authors: Fang Tzu Liao, 廖芳姿
• Other Authors: Shu-Ling Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/76691503088501463597

碩士 === 弘光科技大學 === 護理研究所 === 103 === Abstract To understand the life experience of breast cancer survivors who are also a single mother is an important learning for a health care professional how to make recommendation to support their patients and improve their quality of care. The aim of this study was to understand the life experiences and care needs of women who are single mother and have survived breast cancer for more than 5 years. The research was done from October 2014 to June 2015 with purposive sampling from the sample universe provided by Taichung Kaihuai Association. Total 6 women who are single and had undergone breast cancer diagnosis ≥ 5 years and had mastectomy or chemotherapy were selected for in-depth interview for 60 to 90 minutes in a frequency of 2 to 3 times during the research period. The interviews were converted into transcripts and analyzed using content analysis. The life experience of single-mother breast cancer survivor were summarized into the three categories: (1) loading highly stress from duel characters of a single-mother and cancer patient; (2) being synchronous of self-nursery and family maintenance; (3) showing strong resilience of adversity. The entire life experience of single-mother breast cancer survivor is a classic example to show how a cancer patient can be recovered from diagnosed to treatment through a quality of care. Overall, the results can be found as “a tough journey overcome marriage adversity helps a single-mother to fight back with her breast cancer”. The single-mother built up their strong character through years of resilience of adversity helps to fight back their breast cancer and return to their normal track of life. The real life-experience of survivors for women with breast cancer is an evolutionary treatment journey with short and long-term challenges. Most importantly, to increase the survival rate of such breast cancer patients with years of resilience of adversity should receive a psychosocial tailor made healthcare support with active listening, communication and continue education through intensive follow up and periodically health assessment from a Community Healthcare Nursing Professional. Keyword: single mother, breast cancer survivors, life experience, qualitative study