[Psychiatric nursing support for the families of patients in an oncology unit: Part I].

The family of a patient in an oncology unit or at home, experiences mental discomfort as a result of additional pressure placed on the family system due to long-term implications of cancer. Families are often uncertain about ways of effective coping in their stressful situation. As a result of this uncertainty, they tend to withdraw from one another, thereby worsening their mental discomfort and impeding their pursuit of wholeness. An exploratory, descriptive and contextual study was carried out during the course of which the design for case studies was used. The purpose of the study was to determine the contribution made by a psychiatric nursing specialist offering psychiatric nursing accompaniment to the family of a patient in an oncology unit or at home, regarding the lessening of their mental discomfort. A further goal was to set guidelines as to the manner in which this accompaniment should be presented by the registered nurse in order to lessen the mental discomfort of the family of such a patient.