Yati Afiyanti

Physical sexual and intimate relationship concerns among Indonesian cervical cancer survivors: A phenomenological study

Cervical cancer often leads to sexuality and intimacy concerns for the affected woman within a marital relationship.This study aimed to explore physical sexual concerns and their impact on the intimate partner relationships experienced by cervical cancer survivors. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews with Indonesian women survivors of cervical cancer. Two themes and five sub-themes were constructed from the thematic analysis. The first theme was the physical sexual concerns following cervical cancer treatment, with the subthemes: red spotting and massive vaginal discharge after having sexual intercourse; narrower, smaller and less lubricated vagina; pain during sexual intercourse; feeling of shortened vagina as if it had been cut. The second theme of impact of sexual concerns on intimate partner had five subthemes of: looking for reasons to refuse sexual intercourse; prejudice towards the spouse; feeling forced to fulfil husbands sexual needs; accepting spouses anger; willingness to let the spouse marry another woman. The findings provide nurses with a greater understanding on how women adapt to their altered sexuality and intimacy with their partner following cancer treatments.

It is my destiny as a woman: on becoming a new mother in Indonesia.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to provide a greater understanding of the experience of the new Indonesian mother. Design: This study was a hermeneutic phenomenological study. Data were obtained from 13 first time Indonesian mothers through semi-structured interviews. Findings: Two main themes were identified: “trying to be a good mother “ and “confirming my destiny as a woman.” A number of subthemes were identified to understand of how women in rural West Java perceived the meaning of being a new mother. These themes and subthemes described the woman’s responsibilities as a new mother and some of the challenges that she accepted as a part of her destiny. Conclusion: This study provides nurses and others with insights into the experiences of Indonesian women with early motherhood, their feelings about taking on the mothering role, and some of their needs during this period.

Supportive care needs and quality of life of patients with gynecological cancer undergoing therapy

OBJECTIVE To identify the relationship of unmet supportive care needs with quality of life of patients with gynecological cancer undergoing therapy. METHOD This study used a cross-sectional design. A total of 153 patients with gynecological cancer undergoing therapy were recruited using consecutive sampling methods. The participants completed the questionnaire of Supportive Care Needs Survey to identify their supportive care needs, EORTC-QLQ 30 to assess their general quality of life, and EORTC-QLQ-CX 24 or - OV 28 to determine cancer-specific quality of life in cervical cancer and ovarian cancer, respectively. RESULTS Most of the participants (96.1%) reported their unmet needs of supportive care predominantly in the physical domain (80.4%). Unmet supportive care needs were found to be statistically significantly related to quality of life in the global health, functional, and symptom domains (p value 1=0.003, p value 2=<0.001, and p value 3= 0.001; r1=-0.235, r2=0.306, and r3=0.268, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Patients with gynecological cancer needs various supportive care during treatment. These supportive care needs should be identified early at the time of diagnosis and continued throughout the disease and treatment trajectory to the survivorship point. Otherwise, unmet supportive care needs may lead to a low quality of life.

Evaluating sexual nursing care intervention for reducing sexual dysfunction in Indonesian cervical cancer survivors

Objective: This study aims to describe the factors affecting successful nursing care intervention on sexuality. Methods: A one-group pre- and post-test design was used. Fifty-three cervical cancer survivors and their spouses were administered with nursing care intervention on sexuality in three sessions and evaluated after 6 weeks. Results: Sexual intervention reduced dyspareunia symptoms, improved vaginal lubrication, improved sexual satisfaction, and enhanced sexual arousal, sexual desire, and orgasm among cancer survivors and their spouses. The other influencing factors also simultaneously contributed to the success of nursing care intervention. Conclusions: Nursing care intervention on sexuality could be a part of supportive nursing care and an important aspect in standard nursing care for cancer patients in Indonesia.