The analysis of Trends and Contents of Nursing Intervention Research for Cancer Patients in Korea

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: In this study, the articles which developed and applied nursing interventions for patients with cancer were reviewed and analyzed. METHODS: The analysis was performed in light of 171 pieces of literature on nursing interventions for patients with cancer published between 1991 and 2010. RESULTS: Approximately half of the studies have been published between 2006 and 2010. The quasi-experimental designs using nonequivalent control group and no-synchronized design were the most common form of research design among the 71 papers constituting 41.52% of the total. The most commonly used nursing intervention was education (25.2%), followed by massage (20.4%) and exercise (11.5%). The most common outcome variable was anxiety (11.8%), followed by pain (8.0%) and nausea and vomiting (7.3%). CONCLUSION: The results of this study can provide useful information for the development of nursing interventions in specialized areas. Systematic literature review or meta-analysis is needed in this area.