乳癌病人的症狀經驗

Symptom Experiences of Breast Cancer Patients

乳癌為威脅婦女的主要癌症，病人從診斷、治療至追蹤的各階段，皆可能經歷因疾病及治療所衍生的症狀經驗所導致的身心不適與痛苦，甚至影響疾病進展、情緒狀態、健康功能狀態、生活品質及存活。症狀經驗是一個動態過程，是病人對症狀整體的體驗、感受，包含症狀發生、症狀困擾，以及症狀對病人的意義或重要性，尤其是癌症病人常同時經驗到單獨或多個症狀一起發生的困擾。因此，從病人的角度來看整體症狀經驗是必要的，本文藉由對癌症症狀經驗概念的介紹、探討乳癌病人的症狀群集，以及彙整其相關研究，並提出護理實務應用之建議，期望提昇護理人員對症狀經驗概念的理解和掌握，以能正確評估和提供符合現實及病人需要之措施，進而提升整體照護品質。

Breast cancer is a major disease threating women. From diagnosis and treatment through regular follow-ups, patients with breast cancer may experience physical and mental discomfort and pain caused by disease and treatment-related symptoms. These symptoms may further affect disease progression, emotional state, health function status, quality of life, and survival. Symptom experience is as a dynamic process that expresses a patient's feeling regarding the totality of his or her experience. Symptom experience involves the patient's perception of the frequency, intensity, distress, and meaning that accompany the production and expression of symptoms. Cancer patients often experience multiple symptoms distress. Although these symptoms may occur in isolation, multiple symptoms are typically experienced simultaneously. Therefore, obtaining information from patients about the occurrence and distress of their symptom experience is essential to assess their symptom experiences. The present article presents an overview of symptom experiences, explores breast cancer symptom clusters, and analyzes related factors of influence for patients with breast cancer. The authors hope that the findings will help nurses better understand the symptom experiences of breast cancer patients and further apply this understanding in clinical practice in order to assess symptom experiences correctly and to provide more appropriate interventions to improve quality of care.