Lived experience of colorectal cancer survivors after treatment with curative intent: systematic review of literature

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Nuno
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Rebelo Botelho, Maria Antónia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.56732/pensarenf.v16i2.70
• topic: Colorectal cancer; lived experience; uncertainty; cancer survivors; Cancro do cólon e reto; experiência vivida; Incerteza; sobreviventes de cancro

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is currently the leading cause of cancer death in Portugal. It is also one of the cancers with the highest incidence and prevalence in Europe and worldwide. With the development of new methods for early diagnosis and more effective treatments, cancer is now considered a chronic disease. Consequently, the number of CRC survivors has been increasing gradually and will increase exponentially in the future, therefore it is important to understand in depth the lived experience of CRC survivors after completion of treatment with curative intent, in order to identify new areas for wich to develop new nursing interventions contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of CRC survivors and the continuity of care during the follow-up period after treatment. Objective: In conducting this systematic literature review we intended to synthesize the current knowledge about the lived experience of CRC survivors after treatment with curative intent. Methodology: The research was guided by the question “What is the structure of the lived experience of CRC survivors after treatment with curative intent”? It was conducted in electronic databases during the first fortnight of June 2012. Seven (7) primary studies were selected and were included in this systematic review after assessing their methodological quality and a decision was done to perform inclusion and exclusion criteria previously defined. Given the characteristics of the primary studies that were obtained, we decided to perform a metasummary according to the Sandelowski & Barroso (2007) method. The research question and the extraction edition, translating, grouping and abstraction of the findings used the methodology from The Joanna Briggs Institute. Results: Forty nine (49) findings were obtained and grouped into 14 major categories. In synthesis, the lived experience of CRC survivors after treatment with curative intent reveals a nuclear dimension, uncertainty, around which everything unfolds. Conclusions: This systematic review allowed us to answer the initial research question, but only during the first year after treatment, leaving a gap that must be investigated in the future: the lived experience in the long term. However, it can be inferred that in the first year the recovery of CRC and its treatment takes place in a staged process, which can be synthesized in three main phases: disembodiment, restoring embodiment and body management. The main goal of CRC survivors is wellness and equilibrium, but one feature that remains is uncertainty due to the fear of recurrence and insecurities concerning themselves, their body and the future, leaving them, sometimes, in a state of alertness, in order to identify any sign indicative of recurrence.