Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women in terms of incidence and
mortality rates and continues to be a major public health problem that poses a threat to
women's health. According to 2020 statistics, female breast cancer has overtaken lung
cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer. With 19.3 million new cases and 10.0
million deaths in 2020, compared to 18.1 million cases and 9.6 million deaths in 2018,
the global cancer burden is increasing.
With this rise in breast cancer incidence, patients are exposed to many treatment methods
and their side effects, such as hormonal drugs, surgical interventions, radiotherapy and
chemotherapy, which cause intense stress due to the development of new treatment methods
needed. Depending on the stage of the disease and individual characteristics of patients
with breast cancer, several of these treatments may be preferred at the same time.
Patients are exposed to many systemic effects of these interventions and treatment
toxicity. While the aim of these treatments is to prolong the life of the patients and
enable them to live with better quality of life, the physical, psychological, social
well-being and daily vital functions of the patients may be negatively affected due to
the prolonged duration of the interventions and the occurrence of systemic toxic effects.
In addition to its high incidence, breast cancer is a serious disease due to its
physical, psychological and emotional effects on women. It is important to identify and
meet the information needs of women in this situation. Meeting these needs can improve
the quality of life of these women by increasing their adaptation to the disease,
improving their coping skills, accelerating their return to daily life, and reducing
their anxiety and depression.
This long treatment process in breast cancer treatment involves a chronic recovery
process that includes physical deficiencies, psychological, occupational and sexual
problems, with periods of recovery and exacerbation, creating short and long-term
adaptation difficulties. In the literature, there are studies indicating that many of the
symptoms seen after chemotherapy can be significantly reduced by counseling, education,
care and coaching practices given to patients, and that this can be provided by nurses
who are in constant communication with patients. The main goal of the supportive role of
the nurse is to help patients understand, cope with and adapt to distressing situations.
It is very important for nurses to provide holistic care to women diagnosed with breast
cancer, to address all the problems experienced by the patient and to provide counseling
for them. Psychiatric and psychosocial care and treatment in patients with medical
illnesses are reported to improve patient care and quality, reduce mortality and
morbidity, decrease hospitalization time and general costs, and contribute to improvement
and well-being. Developing the ability to recognize behaviors that indicate the presence
of psychosocial problems and to manage them effectively will not only contribute to the
well-being of patients, but also increase the motivation of nurses to address and
intervene in psychosocial problems.
One of the many methods used for holistic care is interventions using models in practice.
The Roy Adaptation Model (RAM), which is one of the widely used models in nursing, sees
the person as a bio-psychosocial being in constant interaction with a changing
environment. The environment includes focal, contextual and residual stimuli. The focal
stimulus is the person's confrontation with the internal and external environment. The
individual immediately resists these internal and external stimuli. Nurses aim to manage
the focal stimulus first and then the contextual stimuli. Contextual stimuli are other
stimuli that contribute to the focal stimuli and affect the current situation. Residual
stimuli are implicit factors that influence the current situation. These are beliefs,
behaviors and personal experiences. In the Roy Adaptation Model, which argues that nurses
make interventions that facilitate the individual's adaptation to the environment, four
different areas of adaptation are defined. These areas are physiological domain,
self-concept domain, role function domain and interdependence domain. In these four
adaptation domains, the nurse aims to improve the patient's interaction with the
environment, develop adaptive behaviors and adapt to non-adaptive behaviors.
