Oncology nurses are optimally positioned to promote adjustment in patients with cancer. Trained peer support partners, supervised by skilled nurses, may be useful in improving self-efficacy of patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

To provide trajectory-sensitive nursing intervention for uncertainty among breast cancer survivors, age, marital status and pain should be considered during treatment, while factors such as economic status, dyspnoea and insomnia should be taken into account after treatment.

The good psychometric properties of the ECSI instrument show that it may be useful for measuring the frequency of energy conservation strategies used by cancer patients.

Purpose:The purpose of the study was to identify the effect of a comprehensive education program on knowledge, self-efficacy for self-management, and coping style among newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer. Methods: This study used a one group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected from April to September, 2010 at a cancer-specific hospital in Goyang, Korea. One hundred forty three women received a comprehensive education program consisting of 3 sessions composed of 8 themes was conducted by several experts (nurses, doctors, dietitians and clinical psychologists) for 3.5 hours a day for 3 days (1 day before and 2 days after the operation). Results: This study showed that knowledge and self-efficacy for self-management significantly increased after education (p < .001). In terms of coping style, however, only the subscale, ' anxious preoccupation' , significantly improved (p = .001) among 5 subscales of coping style after education. Conclusion: A comprehensive education program for newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer was effective for increasing the knowledge and self-efficacy for self-management of breast cancer, in addition to decreasing the coping style of ' anxious preoccupation' . However, it did not improve other coping style. Therefore, other strategies for improving coping style are needed.

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Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a major issue facing breast cancer survivors (BCS) that can negatively impact their symptoms and quality of life. Objectives: The aims of this study were to examine levels of fatigue, identify preferred types of fatigue self-management, and explore the relationship between fatigue levels and management choices by cancer stage. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study included 229 BCS recruited from 5 hospitals in Korea. The study inclusion criteria were limited to BCS between 20 and 69 years old in stages 1, 2, or 3 who were undergoing or had completed active therapy. The Revised Piper Fatigue Scale and a questionnaire developed for fatigue management were used for data collection. Results: The stage 2 group experienced more fatigue (mean, 5.31) than the other cancer stage groups, and significant differences in fatigue were found between stages 1 and 2 (P < .001). Fatigue self-management choices showed different correlations with fatigue levels in each stage. Physical activity control was most frequently used in stage 1, whereas exercise was most frequently used in stages 2 and 3. Multivariate regression analysis showed that exercise consistently and effectively decreased all fatigue dimensions. Conclusion: Stage 2 BCS experienced the