Hematology patients’ metaphorical perceptions of the disease and psychosocial support needs in the treatment process: a phenomenological study from a rural region of Türkiye

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Purpose

Although health services and access to these services have increased worldwide, there are still major barriers to access to health services, especially for rural, poor, and disabled individuals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the metaphorical perceptions of hematology patients living in rural areas in Türkiye about the disease and their psychosocial support needs during the treatment process with a phenomenological approach.

Methods

In this study, in which the phenomenological research method was used, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 14 hematology patients receiving treatment in a state hospital in a province in the eastern region of Türkiye. Criterion sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods, was used to reach the sample group. Interviews continued until data saturation was achieved. The data of the study were evaluated using thematic analysis. The study was conducted and reported according to the COREQ checklist.

Results

Data analysis revealed two main themes including the following: metaphorical perceptions towards hematologic cancer with the sub-themes of emotional turmoil, social alienation and stigma and physical debilitation, and pathways to resilience with the sub-themes of disease process management, inner resilience and faith, and psychosocial support.

Conclusion

This study revealed that the adaptation process of patients to hematologic cancer is quite difficult, and psychosocial support is an indispensable requirement for them in their lives. In order for patients and their families to cope with this very difficult disease process, it is thought that providing them with a higher level of psychological support will be beneficial in coping with the disease effectively.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00520-025-09278-z.

Related collections

Most cited references 32

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups.

A Tong, P SAINSBURY, J. Craig (2007)

Qualitative research explores complex phenomena encountered by clinicians, health care providers, policy makers and consumers. Although partial checklists are available, no consolidated reporting framework exists for any type of qualitative design. To develop a checklist for explicit and comprehensive reporting of qualitative studies (in depth interviews and focus groups). We performed a comprehensive search in Cochrane and Campbell Protocols, Medline, CINAHL, systematic reviews of qualitative studies, author or reviewer guidelines of major medical journals and reference lists of relevant publications for existing checklists used to assess qualitative studies. Seventy-six items from 22 checklists were compiled into a comprehensive list. All items were grouped into three domains: (i) research team and reflexivity, (ii) study design and (iii) data analysis and reporting. Duplicate items and those that were ambiguous, too broadly defined and impractical to assess were removed. Items most frequently included in the checklists related to sampling method, setting for data collection, method of data collection, respondent validation of findings, method of recording data, description of the derivation of themes and inclusion of supporting quotations. We grouped all items into three domains: (i) research team and reflexivity, (ii) study design and (iii) data analysis and reporting. The criteria included in COREQ, a 32-item checklist, can help researchers to report important aspects of the research team, study methods, context of the study, findings, analysis and interpretations.

0 comments Cited 10605 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization

Benjamin Saunders, Julius Sim, Tom Kingstone … (2017)

Saturation has attained widespread acceptance as a methodological principle in qualitative research. It is commonly taken to indicate that, on the basis of the data that have been collected or analysed hitherto, further data collection and/or analysis are unnecessary. However, there appears to be uncertainty as to how saturation should be conceptualized, and inconsistencies in its use. In this paper, we look to clarify the nature, purposes and uses of saturation, and in doing so add to theoretical debate on the role of saturation across different methodologies. We identify four distinct approaches to saturation, which differ in terms of the extent to which an inductive or a deductive logic is adopted, and the relative emphasis on data collection, data analysis, and theorizing. We explore the purposes saturation might serve in relation to these different approaches, and the implications for how and when saturation will be sought. In examining these issues, we highlight the uncertain logic underlying saturation—as essentially a predictive statement about the unobserved based on the observed, a judgement that, we argue, results in equivocation, and may in part explain the confusion surrounding its use. We conclude that saturation should be operationalized in a way that is consistent with the research question(s), and the theoretical position and analytic framework adopted, but also that there should be some limit to its scope, so as not to risk saturation losing its coherence and potency if its conceptualization and uses are stretched too widely.

0 comments Cited 2489 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 3: Sampling, data collection and analysis

Albine Moser, Irene Korstjens (2017)

Abstract In the course of our supervisory work over the years, we have noticed that qualitative research tends to evoke a lot of questions and worries, so-called frequently asked questions (FAQs). This series of four articles intends to provide novice researchers with practical guidance for conducting high-quality qualitative research in primary care. By ‘novice’ we mean Master’s students and junior researchers, as well as experienced quantitative researchers who are engaging in qualitative research for the first time. This series addresses their questions and provides researchers, readers, reviewers and editors with references to criteria and tools for judging the quality of qualitative research papers. The second article focused on context, research questions and designs, and referred to publications for further reading. This third article addresses FAQs about sampling, data collection and analysis. The data collection plan needs to be broadly defined and open at first, and become flexible during data collection. Sampling strategies should be chosen in such a way that they yield rich information and are consistent with the methodological approach used. Data saturation determines sample size and will be different for each study. The most commonly used data collection methods are participant observation, face-to-face in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Analyses in ethnographic, phenomenological, grounded theory, and content analysis studies yield different narrative findings: a detailed description of a culture, the essence of the lived experience, a theory, and a descriptive summary, respectively. The fourth and final article will focus on trustworthiness and publishing qualitative research.

0 comments Cited 516 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Çiçek Ediz:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9717-1839

cicekediz@hotmail.com , Cediz@cu.edu.tr

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Support Care Cancer

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Support Care Cancer

Title: Supportive Care in Cancer

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg (Berlin/Heidelberg )

ISSN (Print): 0941-4355

ISSN (Electronic): 1433-7339

Publication date (Electronic): 25 February 2025

Publication date PMC-release: 25 February 2025

Publication date (Print): 2025

Volume: 33

Issue: 3

Electronic Location Identifier: 222

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Gümüşhane, ( https://ror.org/00r9t7n55) Gümüşhane, Türkiye

[2 ]Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cukurova, ( https://ror.org/05wxkj555) Adana, Türkiye

[3 ]Faculty of Health, Education of Life Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birmingham City University, ( https://ror.org/00t67pt25) Birmingham, UK

Author information

Sevda Uzun http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5954-717X

Çiçek Ediz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9717-1839

Masoud Mohammadnezhad http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5048-9719

Article

Publisher ID: 9278

DOI: 10.1007/s00520-025-09278-z

PMC ID: 11860990

PubMed ID: 40000464

SO-VID: 47ba1529-8bb6-4c0d-8bbf-bc1dca3e016c

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 30 November 2024

Date accepted : 14 February 2025

Funding

Funded by: Cukurova University

Open Access :

Open access funding provided by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK).

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Oncology & Radiotherapy

Keywords: cancer care,hematologic cancer,metaphor analysis,oncology nursing,phenomenological study,psychosocial support,rural region

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Oncology & Radiotherapy

Keywords: cancer care, hematologic cancer, metaphor analysis, oncology nursing, phenomenological study, psychosocial support, rural region

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

Most referenced authors 4,709

See all reference authors

Hematology patients’ metaphorical perceptions of the disease and psychosocial support needs in the treatment process: a phenomenological study from a rural region of Türkiye

Read this article at

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Karger: Oncology

Most cited references 32

Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups.

Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization

Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 3: Sampling, data collection and analysis

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author information

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 393

Most referenced authors 4,709