Patient, cured, victim or survivor of urological cancer? A qualitative study.
Rafaela Azevedo Abrantes de Oliveira, Márcia Maria Fontão Zago
PMID 30517578WHAT IT FOUND
Many Brazilian urological cancer patients after treatment did not see themselves as survivors.
Some chose cured, victim, patient, or survivor identities, and faith plus doctors' words shaped how they described who they were.
Key findings
01Eight participants said they were cancer survivors, but five also took another identity.
02Six participants defined themselves as cured, four as victims, and two as patients.
03Faith and doctors' words shaped how patients understood their identity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 14 patients were studied, all with urological cancer in Brazil, so the findings may not apply to other cancers, countries, or treatment stages. The study did not consider gender, age, disease stage, or other variables that could change how patients see themselves. The participants had low education and difficulty interpreting texts, so the interview questions may have been hard to understand. It was qualitative and did not test whether any identity label improves care or well-being.
Declared interests
The article was funded by FAPESP, Brazil, grant #2014/12058-6, and was extracted from a doctoral dissertation presented to the Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo. The supplied text did not report competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat survivor as the right label for all cancer patients. These 14 patients' meanings varied, and the study did not test whether any label improves care.