@phdthesis{oai:ir.kagoshima-u.ac.jp:00014999,
 author = {久松, 美佐子 and Hisamatsu, Misako},
 month = {2021-04-09, 2020-03-17, 2020-03-17, 2020-03-17},
 note = {博士論文全文, 博士論文要旨, 最終試験結果の要旨, 論文審査の要旨, Purpose: Many patients with advanced cancer choose palliative chemotherapy. Considering its purpose of palliation and not treatment, it is important to consider the life of family caregivers. Family caregivers who experience bereavement undergo extreme stress, which is particularly high among patients’ spouses. The present study aims to clarify the experiences of the spouses of patients at the hospitals in Japan after the notification of palliative chemotherapy discontinuation until bereavement.
Method: We interviewed the spouses of 13 patients who received palliative chemotherapy using a semistructured interview guide. Each spouse was interviewed twice. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and key concepts were identified using a grounded theory analytic approach.
Results: After the hospital’s recommendation for palliative chemotherapy discontinuation, the spouses had “bewilderment over having to discontinue palliative chemotherapy” and experienced “difficulty in facing bereavement.” The spouses having “difficulty to give up hope for the patient's survival,” felt “bafflement over caregiving at the terminal stage,” which would be their responsibility in the future. Further, they had “hesitation in being honest to the patient” and were engaged in “knowing how to live with the patient until bereavement.”
Conclusion: Nurses need to encourage the patients and spouses to honestly express how they feel from the early stages of palliative chemotherapy. Furthermore, nurses should help spouses with how they face bereavement. This result may help prevent anticipatory grief, which may lead to excessive stress and emotional distress on the family caregivers.

Misako Hisamatsu, Hiroyuki Shinchi, Yumiko Tsutsumi
Experiences of Spouses of Patients with Cancer from the Notification of Palliative Chemotherapy Discontinuation to Bereavement: a Qualitative Study
European Journal of Oncology Nursing 45, April 2020, 101721
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejon.2020.101721},
 school = {鹿児島大学},
 title = {Experiences of Spouses of Patients with Cancer from the Notification of Palliative Chemotherapy Discontinuation to Bereavement : a Qualitative Study},
 year = {},
 yomi = {ヒサマツ, ミサコ}
}