Constantina Papadopoulou

Nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding provision of sexual health care in patients with cancer: critical review of the evidence

BackgroundThe experience of living with cancer is associated with a variety of consequences in several central aspects of a patient’s quality of life, including intimacy, body image, human relationships, sexuality, and fertility. Despite their importance, incidence, and impact on psychosocial well-being, sexual health care (SHC) is a matter not frequently dealt with by nurses in daily practice.Goals of workThe purpose of this study was to gather evidence regarding knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of oncology nurses toward sexual health issues and to identify salient and latent key factors which influence provision of SHC in the context of cancer.Materials and methodsA critical review of the literature was conducted over a period of three decades and 18 original research articles were retrieved and analyzed.ResultsA comprehensive data analysis revealed that, although oncology nurses hold relatively liberal attitudes and recognize provision of sexual health care as an important nursing role, they possess limited sexual knowledge and communication skills, while often avoid or fail to effectively respond to patients’ sexual concerns. Nine possible influential key factors have been studied: incorrect assumptions toward sexual issues, comfort, sexual knowledge, professional nursing role, patient- and nurse-related issues, work environment-related issues, continuing education activities, and society-related factors. Conflicting findings are reported.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study propose that there is an evident need of dispelling the myths about sexual health in cancer care. Besides, continuing education activities and availability of education materials could assist nurses to adequately address sexual concerns while caring for patients with cancer.

What’s dignity got to do with it? Patient experience of the dignity care intervention: a qualitative evaluation study

The delivery of palliative care in the community setting has been recognized as a valued and challenging aspect of nursing care. To this end, care pathways have been shown to support nurses in a variety of settings to deliver individualized patient care. This study provides a qualitative evaluation of an end-of-life intervention known as the Dignity Care Intervention (DCI) based on patients’ perspectives. The DCI consists of four sections: a manual, the Patient Dignity Inventory, reflective questions, and evidence-based care actions. A qualitative design underpinned by the philosophy of Merlau-Ponty was employed for the evaluation of the DCI. Data collection included individual interviews with participants (n = 25). Interview data were analyzed using framework thematic analysis. Four theme categories were identified: “experience of DCI,” “responding to my illness concerns,” “how illness affects me as a person,” and “how illness concerns affect my relationships.” The DCI was found to enable patients to discuss openly important issues with community nurses that they might not otherwise have raised. Participants conveyed satisfaction with the support they received through the DCI. The use of care pathways detailing interventions to manage clinical problems and ensure systematic integration of the best available evidence into care delivery can improve end-of-life care.