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Author on Call

The function of the “Author on Call” blog is to allow our readers and authors to interact with each other in a unique way. A few select authors will be chosen to share on the blog aspects of their papers that were especially meaningful to them personally or points that may not have made it into their published report. Readers will then have the opportunity to provide comments and questions, to which the authors will respond.

At times, as seen in our first entry, we will also post separate entries to the blog on various special topics that we feel would be informational or that we welcome your feedback on.

Friday, March 8, 2019

Friendship in Adolescents and Young Adults With Experience of Cancer: A Dimensional Analysis

Friendship in Adolescents and Young Adults With Experience of Cancer: A Dimensional Analysis

Evered, Jane A., BSN, RN

"In experiences with family members and clinical practice with adolescent and young adult patients in inpatient oncology, I noticed friends are largely absent. Rarely physically present, friends were also seldom discussed or assessed for clinically. This greatly puzzled me, given the strong emphasis on friendship as key to adolescent and young adults' development and wellbeing. It seemed those viewed as friends the day before a cancer diagnosis change to being viewed solely as potential sources of social support after a cancer diagnosis. However, it struck me that there was something more to friendship. We often don't consider enough what it means to adolescent and young adults with an experience of cancer to be, as well as to have, friends.

This dimensional analysis provides the beginning of a theoretical understanding of the nature and meaning of friendship for adolescents and young adults with cancer, a group for whom the existence and experience of friendship has been largely neglected theoretically, clinically, and empirically.  It reveals the experience of friendship for adolescents and young adults to be much more complex and dynamic than has been previously captured by traditional focuses on social support. I'm intrigued by the product of this dimensional analysis: a definition of friendship in the context of adolescent and young adult cancer. This is a foundation on which future empirical work can build. My current research is focusing on the friendship experiences of adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood brain tumors. It is my strong belief that attention to friendship demonstrates to adolescents and young adults with and after cancer that they are worthy of normative social relationships."

--Corresponding author Jane Evered on her paper, "Friendship in Adolescents and Young Adults With Experience of Cancer: A Dimensional Analysis" currently published online ahead-of-print on the CANCER NURSING Web site.  The full article may be viewed here with a subscription.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

ANNOUNCING A SPECIAL THEME ISSUE: Evidence Syntheses

CANCER NURSING: An International Journal for Cancer Care will feature a theme for its entire May/June 2020 issue (Volume 43, Issue 3).  This issue focuses on evidence syntheses, including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, qualitative meta-syntheses, and aligned methods addressing topics of relevance to cancer nursing.

 

Explicit methodological detail including search and retrieval of studies, validation of findings (e.g., meta-analysis) or interpretation of findings (e.g., meta-synthesis) is essential.  Evidence syntheses may seek to advance the science of cancer nursing by, for example, synthesizing a substantial body of literature; highlighting key issues and setting important new agendas in research, policy and practice relating to cancer nursing; or advancing evidence synthesis methods in cancer nursing.  The editors also welcome papers describing or detailing methodological innovations in evidence synthesis relevant to, or as applied to, cancer nursing.

 

Authors from all disciplines are warmly welcomed to submit manuscripts that fit the scope of this theme issue no later than May 30, 2019. The cover letter for the manuscript must indicate submission for the Evidence Syntheses Theme Issue. Please follow the journal’s formatting guidelines found at http://edmgr.ovid.com/cn/accounts/ifauth.htm in preparing the manuscript.

 

Our special guest editors for this theme issue are:

 

Sarah H. Kagan, PhD, RN

G. J. Melendez-Torres, DPhil, RN

R.K. Elswick, Jr., PhD, NREMT-B

 

Please contact the Editorial Office (cancernursingeditor@gmail.com) with questions. 

Friday, December 28, 2018

Self-assessment of Goal Achievements Within a Gynecological Cancer Rehabilitation Counseling

Self-assessment of Goal Achievements Within a Gynecological Cancer Rehabilitation Counseling

Adellund Holt, Kamila, PhD, RN; Hansen, Dorte G., MD, PhD; Mogensen, Ole, MD, DMSc; Jensen, Pernille T., MD, PhD

"This article adds to knowledge of how women treated for their gynecological cancer are able to join more actively in their rehabilitation and be involved by focusing on 'what matters to them'. Before and during this study, I became more curious on how involvement and goal setting contribute to women's experience of their own health. Future work may focus on the impact of the appreciative perspective among health professionals on women´s goal setting and goal achievement in the person-centered rehabilitation."

--Dr. Kamila Adellund Holt on her paper, "Self-assessment of Goal Achievements Within a Gynecological Cancer Rehabilitation Counseling," published in CANCER NURSING Volume 42, Issue 1. For a limited time, the article may be viewed below without a subscription.

Friday, December 28, 2018

Making Sense of Turmoil: How Women Reconcile Their Emotional Response to Discovery of a Potential Breast Cancer Symptom

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Making Sense of Turmoil: How Women Reconcile Their Emotional Response to Discovery of a Potential Breast Cancer Symptom

O’Mahony, Máirín, PhD, MSc, BNS, RNT, RM, RGN; Hegarty, Josephine, PhD; Rooney, Vivien M., PhD

"This paper is based on the analysis of open comments written by women following completion of a questionnaire on their help-seeking behavior for a self-discovered breast symptom. Following completion of the original study, the researchers felt obliged to analyse the open comments received from the women who participated in the study. We wanted to make sense of the women’s stories about finding a breast symptom and waiting in a breast clinic for a diagnosis. Discourse analysis provided the vehicle for capturing the essence of what women were saying. It highlights women’s vulnerability at a time when they do not know what the outcome of their breast symptom will be. The emotional turmoil experienced by women during this time is palpable throughout their comments. This paper offers a unique glimpse into women’s experience from the time of breast symptom discovery almost up to the time of diagnosis.  We would like to dedicate this paper to all the women who discover a breast symptom and sit and wait in a clinic wondering what the outcome will be."

--Dr. O'Mahony on her paper, "Making Sense of Turmoil: How Women Reconcile Their Emotional Response to Discovery of a Potential Breast Cancer Symptom," published in CANCER NURSING Volume 41, Issue 6. For a limited time, the full article may be viewed below without a subscription.

Monday, November 26, 2018

Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment: An Interdisciplinary Nutritional Instrument Appropriate for Dutch Cancer Patients

Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment: An Interdisciplinary Nutritional Instrument Appropriate for Dutch Cancer Patients

Sealy, Martine J., MSc, RD; Haß, Ulrike, MSc, RD; Ottery, Faith D., MD, PhD; van der Schans, Cees P., PhD, PT; Roodenburg, Jan L.N., DDS, MD, PhD; Jager-Wittenaar, Harriët, PhD, RD

"For our research, we needed an instrument to assess malnutrition in patients with head and neck cancer, and the versatile PG-SGA seemed a good option. However, it was originally developed in English for the American cultural setting and it was not available in Dutch. At first I thought: how different could the Dutch setting be from the American setting? But then it hit me… To begin with, there is no word for malnutrition in Dutch. There is a word for undernutrition, and a word for overnutrition, but these words do not cover exactly the same load as the word malnutrition. This made us decide that we needed a translation of the PG-SGA that included cultural adaptation. The journey that followed led to some surprising eye-openers. A Dutch patient that is asked whether he uses nutritional supplements, is probably thinking of his vitamin pill in the morning. He may not think of the unopened bottle of sip feeding in his fridge, which the PG-SGA refers to.

When I had no experience with the PG-SGA, and first read the following question:  "How would you rate the status of the interosseous muscles – 0=no loss, 1=mild loss, 2=moderate loss, 3=severe loss", it was incomprehensible to me, because I never heard of the term interosseous. Once this was clarified, I did comprehend the question, but I still thought it was difficult. To answer it, I needed knowledge of the human muscle anatomy and the skills to distinguish between "no loss", "mild loss", "moderate loss" and "severe loss".  It was surprising how much extra information was generated by discriminating between comprehensibility and difficulty. By including questions regarding comprehensibility and difficulty of the PG-SGA during the pilot test in cancer patients and healthcare professionals, we gained deeper insight in what items are considered comprehensible, implying the formulation is clear, and what items are considered difficult, implying a need for more knowledge and/or training.

The article Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment: An Interdisciplinary Nutritional Instrument Appropriate for Dutch Cancer Patients is the result of our cross-cultural journey. We are very excited that this study is published in Cancer Nursing, because the PG-SGA encourages an interdisciplinary approach to nutritional care. Nurses have a valuable role, because they are often in charge of the nutritional screening process, and, if needed, often initiate involvement of other professionals. As a result of our enthusiasm for the benefits of combining translation with cultural adaptation, my supervisor, Dr. Harriët Jager-Wittenaar, together with the developer of the PG-SGA, Dr. Faith Ottery, started to provide guidance from the PG-SGA/Pt-Global Platform (www.pt-global.org), to include cultural adaptation in translation projects for the PG-SGA into other languages and/or cultures. Shortly after the Dutch version, the Portuguese version of the PG-SGA was developed in collaboration with the Platform. Currently, for example Brazilian-Portuguese, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, and Thai versions of the PG-SGA are being developed and will become available as well."

--Martine Sealy on her paper, "Translation and Cultural Adaptation of the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment: An Interdisciplinary Nutritional Instrument Appropriate for Dutch Cancer Patients," published in CANCER NURSING Volume 41, Issue 6. For a limited time, the article may be viewed below without a subscription.