Identifying personal health-related resources of women with breast cancer for nursing: An integrative review

: Skyttä Marika, Pietilä Anna-Maija, Stolt Minna, Kangasniemi Mari

Publisher: WILEY

: 2023

Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences

: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF CARING SCIENCES

: SCAND J CARING SCI

: 37

: 4

: 13

: 0283-9318

: 1471-6712

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.13054

Personal health-related resources are essential for women with breast cancer, as these help them to maintain their own health and well-being during different phases of their illness. The purpose of this integrative review was to identify, describe and synthetise what personal health-related resources have already been identified for this patient group. We carried out an integrative review to find papers that focused on personal health-related resources for women with breast cancer aged 18-64 years. The search covered 1 January 2005 to 31 May 2021 and was carried out using the CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases. It was limited to peer-reviewed scientific papers with abstracts published in English and 23 papers met the inclusion criteria. The data were analysed using content analysis. Personal health-related resources for women with breast cancer consisted of three different, but inherently interconnected, categories of personal strengths, person-centred cancer care and social support from and involvement in their cultural community. Personal health-related resources for women with breast cancer were multifaceted. Women need nursing support to identify and use these resources and future studies are needed to strengthen how they are measured.

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This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.