Caring for women living with ovarian cancer: recommendations for advanced practice nurses.
This article summarizes advice for advanced practice nurses (APNs) that grew out of research with women living with premenopausal ovarian cancer. We claim that the process of diagnosis and being told, battle metaphors, treatment expectations, the patient's sense of normalcy, her sense of being heard, her ability to make sense of her new world, her inability to have children, issues of sexuality, and the irrelevance of most support groups are important considerations in the treatment of such women. The APN's major role in caring for these women is understanding the experience as it informs the APN's practice and serving as advocates for the women.
Lammers
S E
SE
Department of Religion, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, USA. lammerss@lafayette.edu
Schaefer
K M
KM
Ladd
E C
EC
Echenberg
R
R
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017697:Premenopause; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012944:Social Support; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D016387:Women's Health