Summary Of Dyspnea Among Cancer Patients: Conceptual Analysis

Conceptual Analysis of a Feeling of Dyspnea Among Cancer Patients

I. Introduction

Dyspnea is a symptom accompanying unbearable pain, which appears in cancer patients with a high frequency. It impairs patients' quality of life (QOL) severely by affecting their physical function, social life, and will to live negatively. Therefore, it is not enough that dyspnea is treated simply as dysfunction or clinical symptoms. Especially in the case of cancer, patients sometimes experience dyspnea due to psychological factors such as anxiety and depression without accompanying physical changes of the body (Doyle, Hanks & Mac, 1998). For this reason, it has been recently proposed that we need to grasp it as “total dyspnea” from physical, psychological, social,

Results

1. Attributes of a Feeling of Dyspnea Among Cancer Patients (Figure 1)

Selected 35 literature were analyzed for extracting the attributes of a feeling of dyspnea among cancer patients.

As characteristics of the generation and nature of a feeling of dyspnea among cancer patients, following categories were extracted: a feeling of discomfort or pain on respiration, subjective feeling, a feeling arising from multifactorial interactions, and uncontrollable feeling. As characteristics that have wide-ranging implications following categories were extracted: negative influence on daily living activities, negative influence on physical aspects, negative influence on psychological aspects, negative influence on social aspects, and negative influence on spirituality.

2. Antecedent Factors and Consequences (Figures 2 and 3)

As antecedent conditions that contribute to bring about a feeling of dyspnea among cancer patients, following categories were extracted: the performance of daily living activities, characteristics peculiar to cancer as a disease and its treatment, physiological and functional changes that occur in the body, internal changes on psychological aspects, and the changes of social and environmental

For that reason, it must take into account that multifactorial factors interact one another, and respiratory pain has an impact on a variety of aspects on patient's inner life. It stands to reason that not only respiratory pain in itself but also multifactorial influences is hardship for patients. Therefore, we need to have a common view that a feeling of dyspnea is a concept that includes a variety of impacts. It is also very important to visualize the necessity of support that covers them. Future tasks are to organize relevant components which affect a feeling of dyspnea and to develop an assessment tool which visualize latent pain due to dyspnea and a comprehensive support program on a feeling of