Abstract

Adjustment to illness is a multi-dimensional and difficult process for many patients facing a life-threatening illness, such as prostate cancer. Adjustment encompasses changes in social interactions, physical limitations and role function (Germino et al., 1998; Hoskins et ah, 1996). Information-seeking and the reporting of pain promote adjustment and are explained by the Roy Adaptation Model (Boston Based Adaptation Research in Nursing Society, 1999); which was used as a framework for this study. As the United States becomes more ethnically diverse, nurses are challenged to care for patients from different ethnic backgrounds. The purpose o f this descriptive study was to explore ethnic differences in self-reporting of pain (Brief Pain Inventory, BPI; Cleeland & Ryan, 1994), information-seeking behavior (Krantz Health Opinion Survey, KHOS; Krantz et ah, 1980) and adjustment (Psychosocial Adjustment Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to Illness Scale, PAIS; Derogatis & Derogatis, 1990), in Japanese American and European American men, treated for prostate cancer. Data from 89 consenting participants, 12 Japanese American and 78 European American men, were analyzed using Wilcoxon Rank Sum. The median age was 70. Most participants were married, protestant and college graduates. The ethnic groups were will-matched for age, marital status, number of children, highest education level and income. The most common treatments for prostate cancer reported were androgen deprivation therapy (65%), surgery (55%), and radiation (53%). Because three comparisons were performed on the same dataset, a Bonforroni adjustment for significance level was used. The significance level was set at/? - .017 (.05/3), to detect an alpha of .05. Wilcoxon Rank Sum analysis was performed for each of three main comparisons: 1) information-seeking (KHOS), 2) self-reported pain (BPI), and 3) overall adjustment to illness (PAIS). A difference for information-seeking (KHOS) between the Japanese American and European American groups,/? = .012, was observed. Overall, information-seeking (i.e. inquisitiveness) correlated with better adjustment (p = 0.006). No differences were seen in overall adjustment or self-reported severity of pain. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The results of this study support ethnic differences in information-seeking patterns observed by other researchers (KagawaSinger, 1988; Kakai et al., 2003), and provide insight for nurses to better care for patients across ethnic groups

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3289582; ProQuest document ID: 304839112. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Mildred Ortu Kowalski, PhD

Sigma Membership

Unknown

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Cross-Sectional

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Asian Americans, Prostate Cancer, Pain

Advisors

Haber, Judith,Budin, Wendy C.,Kranovich-Miller, Barbara

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

New York University

Degree Year

2007

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2017-03-01

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