Breast Cancer Survivors’ Concerns, Symptoms, and Unmet Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project is to increase knowledge of the concerns, symptoms,and unmet needs of breast cancer survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States and has a high survival rate. There is little knowledge regarding the concerns, symptoms, and unmet needs of breast cancer survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Secondary data analysis of breast cancer survivor interview transcripts from a primary experimental study Results: Analysis of the demographic data showed the average participant age was 56.75 years, three-fourths of the participants were married, half the participants had completed vocational school, half the participants had completed post graduate schooling, all participants were employed, and three-fourths of participants made between $40,000-$69,000. Symptom distress was measured for 18 individual symptoms. Participants on average experienced 10 symptoms. The combined symptom distress score averaged across all four participants was 4.625 indicating moderate distress. Twelve themes were identified through content analysis of the four participant interview transcripts. The 13 themes were: (1) symptoms of depression, (2) resilience, (3) communication with the healthcare team, (4) negative consequences of treatment, (5) social support, (6) self-care, (7) COVID-19, (8) life stressors, (9) processing the cancer experience, (10) uncertainty about the future, (11) desire for knowledge, and (12) anxiety. Conclusions: While data saturation was not achieved, this DNP project provided valuable insight into breast cancer survivors’ concerns, symptoms, and unmet needs during the COVID- 19 pandemic.