"Jeg har så lyst til å klare det" : kurative brystkreftpasienters erfaringer med å delta i livsstilsintervensjoner parallelt med kjemoterapi

Abstract

Background: Annually, more than 3000 women are affected by breast cancer in Norway.Lifestyle interventions indicate to be adequate in comparison to stress reduction and mentalwellbeing. Changes in to a more healthy diet, smoking cessation and physical activity seem togive less symptoms and side effects of the chemotherapy. In some studies it is indicated thatincreased survival could be a consequence of lifestyle changes in breast cancer patients.Purpose and research issues: The purpose of this study is to explore how curative breastcancer patients experience participation in lifestyle intervention in parallel withchemotherapy. Research issues are: ”How do patients experience to be guided among lifestyleinterventions?”, “What kind of influence does lifestyle intervention have on the patients’ ownexperience of their illness and course of treatment?” and “ How do the patients experiencethe combination of lifestyle intervention and chemotherapy?”Method and selection: Qualitative method with a hermeneutical approach was applied.Semi-structured interviews with 10 patients were conducted. The analysis was conductedbased on the principles for hermeneutical sense interpretation.Findings: The analysis concluded in three main categories: “I just want to live my life”, “theguidance made me more conscious and “it was a bit too much at a time”.Conclusion: Results showed that to conduct lifestyle interventions in parallel withchemotherapy can be experienced stressful unless guidance is individually tailored to eachpatient. Meanwhile, side effects caused by chemotherapy constitute a challenge for lifestylechanges.Keyword: breast cancer, lifestyle interventions, qualitative study, coaching