Cancer patient narratives during cancer outpatient – nurse conversations

摘要

Background: Studies have highlighted the significance of cancer patients’ narrative work in order to cope and feel well and find meaning in life.Aim: This article reports a study of whether and how cancer outpatients narrates, and how cancer care nurses contribute to the patients’ narrativework during conversations taking place during planned first time consultations at out-patient clinics.Method: The study was qualitative phenomenological hermeneutic. The data material included recordings of eight patient – nurse meetingstaking place as ordinary planned activities at out-patient clinics in Norway. Four female and four male patients, and eight female nurses participated.Transcribed recordings of conversations were content analysed, narrative sequences identified and analysed for how narratives developedand how narrating was encouraged and followed up by nurses.Findings: Results gave insights into narrative contexts and how voices of nursing, medicine, and life world and relational or goal directedcommunication had implications for patient narrations.Conclusion: The findings of this study of narrations in cancer outpatient – nurse conversations gave insights into nurses’ meaning horizonsand communication approaches with implications for practice. There is a need of more research providing insights into the effects of narrativemeaning constructions for cancer patients.