A relação entre os factores sócio-demográficos e o nível de conforto da mulher com cancro da mama em tratamento com quimioterapia

Abstract

As a science Nursing has always aimed at contextualizing the care it provides so that it can adapt to anyone under any circumstances. Moreover, all our caring procedures are planned and carried out aiming at the person’s comfort. K. Kolcaba’s theory of comfort presents a holistic approach to nursing care that can adapt to several situations. Breast cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer in Portugal and it has a huge impact on women’s personal, familiar and socio-professional life. Nursing has to improve knowledge in this area so that it can provide a better and more effective care. Thus, we have conducted a survey with the aim of evaluating the level of comfort among women with breast cancer, who are being submitted to chemotherapy. We also aimed at relating that level of comfort to the socio-demographic factors, making use of a correlated-descriptive and quantitive approach. We have implemented a questionnaire focusing on the socio-demographic characterization and on the comfort scale of women with breast cancer under chemotherapy (EACDQ) built by J. Apóstolo e Gameiro. It was conducted in an Oncology Centre among women with breast cancer who composed our non-probabilistic accidental sample. According to the data provided, we concluded that the medium global comfort averages 3,35 (DP = 0,60) and the socio-demographic factors that were decisive to determine the level of comfort were the age (rs=0.329, p=0.026), the number of children (rs=-0.389; p=0.008) still living with them and the women’s qualifications. On the other hand, we can see that having an active life or not (z (14.32) = 0.645; p= 0.159), having been submitted to a mastectomy (p= 0.263) or being under chemotherapy for long (p=0,702) are not determinant features to measure the level of comfort. We believe that this survey can contribute with suggestions to the practice, training and research.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Margarida Maria Vieira (Supervisor) & Patrícia Pontífice-Sousa (Co-Supervisor)