School of Psychology & Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia.
Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre, Heidelberg, Australia.
J Cancer Educ. 2024 Apr;39(2):204-210. doi: 10.1007/s13187-023-02397-3. Epub 2023 Dec 29.
To achieve wellness in cancer survivorship, researchers and clinicians need a better understanding of what it means to live "well", from the perspective of cancer survivors themselves.
Australian and UK cancer survivors (N = 376) diagnosed in the previous five years, were asked "What does it mean to be well?", with an open-ended text response. Responses were coded using content analysis. Demographics, time since diagnosis, coping style and symptom level were also assessed.
Descriptions of what it meant to be "well" were coded as absence-focused (living without negative impacts of illness, 32.7%) or presence-focused (living with health, function, or wellbeing, 37.8%). A further 29.5% of responses contained both elements. Lower symptom level and higher use of a fatalism coping style were associated with presence-focused definitions of being well.
More meaningful conversations with cancer survivors about their goals for care would be facilitated by a better understanding of what it means to them to be "well". As symptoms change over the course of survivorship, it may be necessary to re-examine each survivor's goals of care.
为了实现癌症生存者的健康，研究人员和临床医生需要更好地了解癌症生存者自身视角下的“健康生活”意味着什么。
研究调查了澳大利亚和英国的癌症幸存者（n=376），他们在过去五年内被诊断出患有癌症，研究询问他们“健康意味着什么？”，并要求他们做出开放式的文本回答。采用内容分析法对回答进行编码。同时评估了人口统计学特征、诊断后时间、应对方式和症状水平。
对“健康”意味着什么的描述可分为以无病为重点（没有疾病的负面影响，占 32.7%）或注重存在（健康、功能或幸福地生活，占 37.8%）。另有 29.5%的回答包含了这两个方面。较低的症状水平和更高的宿命论应对方式与存在重点的健康定义相关。
如果对癌症生存者“健康”的含义有更深入的了解，将有助于与他们进行更有意义的护理目标讨论。随着生存过程中症状的变化，可能有必要重新审视每个幸存者的护理目标。
