PURPOSE To examine the effect of back massage on immune response, symptom distress, and mood state of patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allogeneic HSCT). METHODS Subjects were thirty-seven patients undergoing sibling allogeneic HSCT (including 16 in the experimental group and 21 in the control group). Experimental subjects participated in an intervention group of back massage for 10 minutes, once a day and 5 times a week, from one week prior to the HSCT to the third week after the HSCT or a control group. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest design was used. t-test and Repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine group differences by using SAS. RESULTS No significant group differences were found in Immune response (CD4+, CD8+,CD19+, CD56+) and symptom distress. The experimental group had significantly less mood state (anxiety, confusion) than the control group. CONCLUSION The back massage for the patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT may be effective in altering the anxiety and confusion during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, this study did not provide evidence in improving immune response and symptom distress.
PURPOSE To evaluate the effects of a follow-up program for breast cancer patients after surgery. METHOD A quasi-experimental design was used. The subjects were 56 breast cancer patients (experimental group: 27, control group: 29). The subjects of the experimental group participated in the Follow-up program of 7 sessions once a week, during 4 weeks including one telephone visit. The program consisted of health education of breast cancer, exercise, lymph edema prevention, diet education, theraband rehabilitation exercise, laugh therapy, and breast self examination. The obtained data were analysed by using the ANCOVA of SPSS. RESULTS There was a significant difference in the scores of physical wellbeing, symptom distress and mood state between the two groups. CONCLUSION Considering these research results, short-term intervention could improve physical and emotional functioning abilities by helping better health. Nurses should establish and manage a proper program to provide multipurpose support and it must apply the program after surgery as soon as possible for breast cancer women.
PUPPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the patterns and related factors of fatigue in patients with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy. METHOD 31 women with breast cancer receiving radiotherapy were recruited from the out-patient radiologic clinic of the university hospital in Seoul, Korea over a period of 3 months. Data was collected prospectively concerning three points for 5 - 6 weeks : before radiotherapy(T1), 2 weeks after starting radiotherapy(T2) and the completion of radiotherapy(T3). Data were analysed by repeated measure ANOVA, Pearson correlaton, and multiple regression. RESULT 1. Score of fatigue increased significantly over the course of radiotherapy. 2. Score of symptom distress and emotional distress increased and functional status scores decreased significantly over time. 3. Fatigue was positively related with symptom distress and emotional distress and negatively related with functional status over the course of radiotherapy. 4. At T2, emotional distress explained 24.7% of the variation in fatigue. At T3, symptom distress(41.9%) and emotional distress(7.2%) explained the variance in fatigue. CONCLUSION The results of this study provided evidence that fatigue increased over the course of radiotherapy and symptom distress and emotional distress were influencing factors of fatigue in this group. The results of this study suggest that comprehensive intervention strategy for fatigue should be developed to maintain quality of life during and following radiotherapy considering these factors.