난소암 여성의 투병과정: 죽음의 굴레에 묶인 채 존재가치 찾아가기

Abstract

Purpose: The specific aims were to identify the process of fight against ovarian cancer and how the women interact with other people.

Methods: The subjects included 12 women who were higher than stage II epithelial ovarian cancer. Data were collected with an in-depth individual interview from July 2017 to April 2018. The specific analysis process followed the grounded theory method of Corbin and Strauss.

Results: The results show that the core category was “finding the existence value with being tied to the bridle of death”. The outcomes were “fighting cancer in loneliness”, “life compromised with death”, and “social sublimation”. The women with ovarian cancer experienced the collapse of existence value while they reached the phase of implicit maintenance through the phases of chaos, active seeking, and desperate coping by using various strategies.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicate psychosocial problems due to the collapse of women's existence value in the process of ovarian cancer treatment, which have an important effect on the entire treatment process. Thus, it is important to develop nursing strategies based on the characteristics of the process of treatment in ovarian cancer and health providers should support them to rebuild the value of the existence through it.