Women's perspectives regarding the impact of ovarian cancer - Implicationsfor nursing

Ovarian cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in women . Ovarian cancer and its treatment have a considerable effect on the qualit y of life of women diagnosed with the disease. Currently, little is known a bout the perspectives of women regarding their experiences of living with o varian cancer or the impact of recurrent disease. This article presents dat a from a national study of Canadian women living with ovarian cancer and de scribes the impact of the disease and in treatment. In this study, 93 women had recurrent disease, and 170 had not experienced recurrent disease. Wome n in both groups were similar, ranging in age from 21 to 61 years. Two-thir ds of the women were married, and all were white. A greater proportion of t he women with recurrent disease reported bower problems; fears of dying, pa in, getting around; and feelings of self-blame. On the average, women with recurrent disease reported experiencing more problems since diagnosis than those without recurrent disease (p = 0.01). The proportion of women who per ceived that they received adequate help for their problems ranged from 20% to 85%. Implications for oncology nurses regarding assessment, referral for assistance, and patient education are apparent from the study findings.