Understanding the symptoms experienced by individuals with lung cancer

Catherine A. Kiteley, Margaret I. Fitch

Abstract


The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of patients’ experience of symptoms of lung cancer upon a first visit to a regional cancer centre and two months later. Sixteen patients were interviewed on two occasions about the symptoms, their impact and what they found most troublesome. Patients were also asked to describe any strategies they used to manage the symptoms. The most commonly identified symptoms were fatigue and pain. Participants described coping with multiple symptoms simultaneously, how those symptoms intensified over time, and using very few strategies. Participants described symptoms as troublesome because they interfered with activities of daily living or evoked emotional or cognitive responses. Fatigue was reported most frequently as troublesome. This work has implications for how patient assessments are conducted and how health care professionals listen to the patients. The patients’ descriptions of their symptoms and what strategies they applied is often embedded within the patients’ stories about living day-to-day with their lung cancer.


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