Nurse's Perception of Cancer Treatment during Pregnancy

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the nurses' perceptions of the anticipated problems (including concern, anxiety etc.) of pregnant women that are diagnosed or treated with cancer using the Korean version of the Cancer and Pregnancy Questionnaire (CPQ) tool. METHODS: Data were collected from 475 clinical nurses working in hospitals using a questionnaire that included 40 items (consisting of 5 subscales) of the Korean version of the CPQ and 2 items of nursing confidence. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0. The characteristics of the nurses were calculated as a percentage and mean with standard deviations. Pearson's correlation was used to analyze the correlation between the sub-domains of the Korean CPQ tool and the characteristics of the nurse. RESULTS: Nurses were most concerned about child health, cancer, and treatment of the women receiving cancer treatment during pregnancy; cancer treatment may be harmful to unborn child (6.20±1.00), will have a physical abnormality (6.08±1.06), have brain damaged or mental disability (6.07±1.04) and the extent of the physical exhaustion (6.12±0.88). CONCLUSION: Nurses need a more accurate understanding of the anxiety and stress of women about birth results and outcomes due to cancer treatment during pregnancy. They should be prepared to develop confidence in treatment for these patients.