Experience of Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the experiences of patients with ovarian cancer undergoing chemotherapy METHODS: A phenomenological method was used in this study. Data were collected by individual in-depth interviews with six participants with ovarian cancer undergoing chemotherapy during 2016. Colaizzi's phenomenology has been adopted as a research method in this qualitative study. RESULTS: Seven theme clusters were derived from the data as follows ‘Recognizing cancer diagnosis and treatment as braking in life,’‘Effect on being a housewife as a cancer patient,’‘Ambivalence about treatment,’‘Fear with physical side effects,’‘Losing sexuality as a woman,’‘Affected by other ovarian cancer patients,’‘Practice hope after treatment.’ CONCLUSION: Patients with ovarian cancer experienced tremendous physical and psychosocial problems. This finding demonstrates the need to develop appropriate nursing interventions for issues related to the experience of patients with ovarian cancer receiving chemotherapy.