A Qualitative Research Of Psychological Difficulties Among Male Patients With Primary Liver Cancer

Objective:The study aims to recognize the real psychological difficulties and its influencing factors among male patients with primary liver cancer, so as to help nurses evaluate their psychological difficulties and provide a theoretical foundation for taking effective strategies to improve their coping ability and enhance curative effects.Methods:This research adopted the phenomenological research method of the qualitative study. According to the objective sampling methods and basing on the principle of information saturation, we selected 10 male patients with primary liver cancer as subjects from a provincial hospital. Through the semi-structured depth interview, we explored and recorded the true psychological experiences of the male patients with primary liver cancer. By Colaizzi content analysis method, the obtained data were rearranged and analyzed, and herein the experience-related subjects of the patients with primary liver cancer.Results:From the psychological experiences of male patients with primary liver cancer, five themes and detailed sub-themes were extracted:Theme 1:Psychological difficulties upon diagnosis:deny, shock, fear, anger and regret.Theme 2:Psychological difficulties in therapeutic process:anxious, depression, helpless and uncertainty in illness.Theme 3:Psychological difficulties related to family:lack of ability to take care of parents, child-rearing problems, economic burden, change in family roles and impairment of family integrity.Theme 4:Psychological difficulties related to society:change in social roles, impaired social interaction, incompetent to previous job.Theme 5:Demand for improving psychological status:informed consent of disease, health seeking, knowledge of disease, psychological care.Conclusions1. The male patients with primary liver cancer have various psychological difficulties, and the information demand and emotional support requirements vary from patients to patients.2. Healthcare workers should attach importance to psychological difficulties in male patients with primary liver cancer, and enact personalized and humanized nursing measures to improve their psychological status and quality of life.