The sensory and coping intervention for women newly diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer

"The day you lose your hope is the day you start to die": Quality of life measured by young women with metastatic breast cancer

Purpose/Objectives: The number of young women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is growing in the United States. The intersection of age and cancer stage presents unique challenges for this population. However, there is little extant research on the concerns and perspectives of young women with MBC. The purpose of this study is to understand how young women describe their lived experiences following their diagnoses of MBC.Design: A cross-sectional qualitative study with a life course theoretical framework was employed.Sample/Participants: Purposive sampling yielded nine participants who took part in semi-structured interviews. Phenomenology informed understanding of the lived experience of young women with MBC.Findings: The findings describe how young women with MBC measure quality of life, via themes of facing off-time diagnoses, strategizing disclosure, relying on mindfulness and spirituality, contemplating the future, and differentiating surviving from truly living.Conclusion: The notion of short-term or long-term decision-making is clouded by a metastatic prognosis.Implications for Psychosocial Providers: These findings present new information about the needs of young women with MBC, with potentially transferable implications for young adults with other forms of metastatic cancer.

Health information needs, source preferences and engagement behaviours of women with metastatic breast cancer across the care continuum: protocol for a scoping review

INTRODUCTION

The health information needs, information source preferences and engagement behaviours of women with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) depend on personal characteristics such as education level, prior knowledge, clinical complications, comorbidities and where they are in the cancer journey. A thorough understanding of the information behaviours of women living with mBC is essential to the provision of optimal care. A preliminary literature review suggests that there is little research on this topic, but that there may be lessons from a slightly broader literature. This review will identify what is known and what is not known about the health information needs, acquisition and influences of women with mBC across the care continuum. Findings will help to identify research needs and specific areas where in-depth systematic reviews may be feasible, as well as inform evidence-based interventions to address the health information needs of female patients with mBC with different demographics and characteristics and across the mBC journey.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

A scoping review will be performed using the guidelines of Arksey and O'Malley as updated by subsequent authors to systematically search scientific and grey literature for articles in English that discuss the health information needs, source preferences, engagement styles, and associated personal and medical attributes of women ≥18 years living with mBC at different stages of the disease course. A variety of databases (including Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Academic Search Premier, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PsycINFO, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, and PQDT Open), oncology, patient advocacy and governmental websites will be searched from inception to present day. Research and non-research literature will be included; no study designs will be excluded. The six-stage Arksey and O'Malley scoping review methodological framework involves: (1) identifying the research question; (2) searching for relevant studies; (3) selecting studies; (4) charting the data; (5) collating, summarising and reporting the results; and (6) consulting with stakeholders to inform or validate study findings (optional). Data will be extracted and analysed using a thematic chart and descriptive content analysis.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Being a secondary analysis, this research will not require ethics approval. Results will be disseminated through patient support organisations and websites and publications targeting healthcare professionals, advocates and patients.