10月13-16日，第14届国际妇科肿瘤学会双年会（IGCS 2012）在加拿大温哥华举行。IGCS 2012一如既往地为参会者奉上妇科肿瘤学领域最新研究进展，提供发布、讨论和争辩最新科学信息的良机。金宝搏网站登录技巧 对本届年会进行了专题报道（http://zt.cmt.com.cn/zt/igcs2012/index.html）。

研究摘要：

Ovarian Cancer Survivors’ Experiences of Self-Advocacy:
A Focus Group Study
T Hagan, J Knapp, J Guo, S Hughes, M Roberge, S Klein, S
Ward, MB Happ, H Donovan
University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
Background: Women with ovarian cancer experience a
multitude of co-occurring, severe, and distressing symptoms
that directly affect their quality of life. Optimal symptom
management depends on patients’ ability to negotiate the
health care system, communicate with health care providers,
and manage complex medical and self-care strategies. The
concept of self-advocacy is frequently promoted within
cancer survivorship research and policy as a key factor ensuring
patient participation and engagement in their care.
However, a well-defined understanding of this phenomenon
has yet to be established. The purpose of this qualitative,
descriptive study is to explore the concept of self-advocacy
from the lived experience of ovarian cancer survivors.
Methods: Participants were recruited through the Written
Representational Intervention to Ease Symptoms Study
(GOG-0259) and Pittsburgh’s National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
(NOCC). Five focus group sessions comprised of 2 to 4
women with ovarian cancer were conducted (n = 14). Verbatimtranscriptions
were systematically analyzed by 2 trained
independent researchers using a constant comparison method
with axial coding. Each focus group was analyzed separately
and then successively integrated together to uncover pervasive

and meaningful themes and subthemes. All participants
were given the opportunity to validate the findings.
Results: Common themes, subthemes, and exemplar quotations
of self-advocacy and symptom management will be
presented followed by a complete and succinct description of
the phenomenon. Major themes include ‘‘learning how to live
with my symptoms,’’ ‘‘knowing how to manage my symptoms,’’
and ‘‘overcoming obstacles.’’ Complexities of selfadvocating
include ‘‘fighting against death while maintaining
power,’’ ‘‘leveraging personal strengths and working with
others,’’ and ‘‘trusting and being frustrated with your healthcare
team.’’ Self-advocacy was defined by these women as a
strong will that activates survivors to stand up for themselves
and address personally meaningful obstacles to symptom
management.
Conclusions: Exploring and describing the process of selfadvocacy
among patients with cancer can provide needed
insight into how patients engage in the symptom management
process and participate in their health care in personally
meaningful ways. A deepened understanding of
self-advocacy can lead to improved clinical support for and
research approaches to improving patient-centered care in
addition to providing potential interventions for women with
ovarian cancer.