Nurse-patient communication in cancer care - A review of the literature

Patients with cancer seem to experience distress particularly in the First period after diagnosis, and are likely to develop an affective disorder in the first 2 to 3 months. Communicative behaviors of nurses seem to play an important role in meeting the cognitive and affective needs of patients wit h cancer. This review of the literature examines the communicative behavior s of nurses during care activities with patients who have cancer. The studi es show that emphasis is placed on the affective side, in which facilitatin g behaviors such as empathy, touch, comforting, and supporting are consider ed essential in caring for patients with cancer. Unfortunately, further stu dies in this review demonstrate that communication in oncologic care is com plicated by such emotionally laden issues as the consequences associated wi th the life-threatening character of the disease and the far-reaching conse quences of the medical treatment. This results in barriers to effective com munication between patients with cancer and nurses. It is important, theref ore, that nurses working with patients who have cancer are provided both st ructurally and repeatedly with continuing education programs in communicati on. Finally most of the studies covered in this review have an explorative character. Future research in this area should pay attention to the use of controlled studies, large sample sizes, and observational instruments.