Nursing faculty’s study into emotional impact on breast cancer survivors gains international attention

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Nursing faculty’s study into emotional impact on breast cancer survivors gains international attention

The research was sparked by Dr. Klimek-Yingling’s own experiences treating patients.

A new study into the emotions undergone by breast cancer survivors is getting international attention - a study rooted in the efforts of Utica College assistant professor of nursing, Dr. Jennifer Klimek-Yingling.

“Negotiating Emotional Order: A Grounded Theory of Breast Cancer Survivors,” published in the December 2018 issue of Grounded Theory Review: An international journal, examines the processes of 12 women who had completed initial treatment for breast cancer and the emotional order that describes how breast cancer survivors view leir illness and make choices of action.

From the data, fives stages of the process of negotiating emotional order emerge: 1) Losing Life Order, 2) Assisted Life Order, 3) Transforming 4) Accepting, and 5) Creating Emotional Order, the publication’s abstract states.

The research was sparked by Dr. Klimek-Yingling’s own experiences treating patients.

“I cared for a patient who I had gotten to know as her child was often seen due to a chronic illness. She was a pleasure to work with, strong, level headed, and upbeat,” she explains. “On this particular day she was the patient. Her complaint was simple: a cough and she clearly wasn’t herself emotionally. I was surprised to discover, when I took her past medical history, that she was a breast cancer survivor. After I discussed her chest x-ray results I sensed she was still upset and filled with uncertainty. Then the lightbulb went on. I asked her directly if she was concerned if the cancer was recurring. She said yes and her tears flowed. I do believe if I had not dug a little deeper into her emotional state she would have left the emergency department with much of the same emotional duress that she initially had. This interaction sparked my research as it was clear that breast cancer survivors endure a process after treatment ends.”

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer found in woman around eeh world with an estimated 3.5 million women diagnosed in the United States, an estimated 245,000 expected to be newly diagnosed, and roughly 40,000 estimated to succumb to breast cancer annually, according to the American Cancer Society.

“For these survivors the treatment is over but the emotional aspect of breast cancer is not,” Dr. Klimek-Yingling says. “It also became evident to me that health care providers need to know more about this process on order to be able to treat patients holistically.”

It is hoped that this study can help healthcare providers caring for breast cancer survivors gain a better understanding of the never-ending emotional impact that breast cancer survivors suffer and can provide a path for future research and aid in understanding the psychological impact that breast cancer has upon survivors.

The article can be found in its entirety in the Issue 1, December 2018, Volume 17 issue of Grounded Theory Review: An international journal.

The Grounded Theory Review is an interdisciplinary, online academic journal for the advancement of classic grounded theory and scholarship. The Grounded Theory Review adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world.