Purpose/Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to investigate if expressive writing affected a patient's perceived quality of life and uncertainty in illness. Research questions: (1) Does expressive writing affect perceived quality of life and uncertainty in patients with cancer? (2) Is there an association between increased perception of quality of life and decreased feelings of uncertainty between the group who did expressive writing and those who did not write at 3 months?
Significance:
Receiving a diagnosis of cancer can catapult a person into a time period dominated by uncertainty. Emotions such as anxiety, depression, fear, distress, and helplessness are all common during this time. As people experience these negative emotions, they perceive their quality of life decreasing. Literature supports that being honest and writing about emotions associated with traumas may address and reverse these negative emotions and increase people's positive functioning. A CNS can provide holistic care through interventions such as journaling that acknowledge the emotional impact created by physical problems.
Design:
Causal comparative research design.
Methods:
Newly diagnosed cancer patients were recruited from 2 local cancer centers by the CNS student. Each qualifying participant filled out a consent form, demographic information sheet, Mishel's Uncertainty in Illness Scale and Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index, Cancer Version III. Participants were then randomly placed into 1 of 2 groups: a control or an intervention group. Those in the control group did nothing. Those in the intervention group were asked to write at least twice a week during their 3 months in the study. At the end of 3 months, all participants were asked to fill out the same tools again, plus an expressive writing information sheet. The journals were not read or collected by the investigator.
Findings:
Recruitment has just begun; preliminary results will be available by conference time. Expected results include increased perception of quality of life and decreased uncertainty in the intervention group as compared with the control group. Nursing-sensitive outcomes could include increased patient and caregiver satisfaction. Journaling also serves to meet a Healthy People 2010 goal of increasing quality of life.
Conclusions:
Not available yet.
Implications for Practice:
Research findings will contribute to the growing body of literature on expressive writing and introduce advanced practice nurses/clinical nurse specialists, nurses, and physicians to a noninvasive, cost-effective, and beneficial intervention that they can recommend to their patients.
Section Description
The journal is proud to share the student abstracts accepted for poster presentation at the 2010 National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists Conference. These abstracts are submitted under a separate, later deadline and therefore did not appear in the journal with the general abstracts. Congratulations to these CNS students and their faculty mentors.