Antecedents and self-help outcomes: Interventions for women with breast cancer

Abstract

The purpose of this secondary analysis of data from the pilot study of Self-Help Intervention Project (SHIP) was to describe the relationship among subject background and nursing interventions (self-help class, independent study, and nurse case manager) in 29 women with breast cancer at time one, prior to participation in one of three nurse interventions. Twenty six women provided data upon completion of the nurse interventions. A low statistical relationship was found between demographic variables of age (r =.29, p =.10) and income (r =.32, p =.09) with the nurse case manager intervention. Having had a partial mastectomy (r =.34, p =.07) was positively related to the independent study. Having received chemotherapy (r =.33, p =.08) was positively related to the self-help class intervention. The information seeking style blunter subscale was found to have a negatively statistically significant relationship with the self-help class intervention (r = -.31, p =.10) and a positive relationship with the nurse case manager intervention (r =.33, p =.08). The nurse case manager intervention was found to be positively related to adult self-care (r =.29, p =.10). Results indicate that nurses should continually assess their patients' individual variables in order to provide appropriate interventions.