Abstract
Context An important question in symptom clusters research is whether the number and types of symptom clusters vary based on the specific dimension of the symptom experience used to create the clusters. Objectives Given that lung cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (CTX) report an average of 14 co-occurring symptoms and studies of symptom clusters in these patients are limited, the purpose of this study, in lung cancer patients undergoing CTX (n = 145), was to identify whether the number and types of symptom clusters differed based on whether symptom occurrence rates or symptom severity ratings were used to create the clusters. Methods A modified version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale was used to assess for the occurrence and severity of 38 symptoms, one week after the administration of CTX. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract the symptom clusters. Results Both the number and types of symptom clusters were relatively similar using symptom occurrence rates or symptom severity ratings. Five symptom clusters were identified using both symptom occurrence rates and severity ratings (i.e., sickness behavior, lung cancer specific, psychological, nutritional, and epithelial). Across these two dimensions, the specific symptoms within each of the symptom clusters were relatively similar. Conclusions Identification of symptom clusters in patients with lung cancer may assist with the development of more targeted symptom management interventions. Future studies are warranted to determine if symptom clusters change over a cycle of CTX in patients with lung cancer.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 194-203 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Pain and Symptom Management |
Volume | 54 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2017 |
Keywords
- Symptoms
- chemotherapy
- exploratory factor analysis
- lung cancer
- symptom clusters
- symptom occurrence
- symptom severity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Nursing
- Clinical Neurology
- Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine