Nurses' perception of the concerns and psychological needs of mastectomy patients

Abstract

The present study was conducted to explore the nurses' perceptions of the concerns and psychological needs of mastectomy patients. A convenience sample of 8 female nurses, from two female surgical wards at St. Luke's' Hospital, participated in this study. A non experimental descriptive design was utilised. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained by means of semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed using Content Analysis. The findings revealed that all participants were very conscious about the negative impact of mastectomy upon the women's health and body image. Also, the respondents showed awareness into the psychological needs of the patients with mastectomy. All nurses considered it their role to give psychological care to these patients, however they did not identified information-giving as being part of their role. Additionally they felt that the patients' psychological needs were not being met because of various identified barriers. Respondents gave various suggestions on how to improve the quality of nursing care provided to mastectomy patients. Recommendations were made for improvement in the present situation and for further research to be carried out.