The effect of logotherapy-based, nurse-guided meaning attribution conversations on women diagnosed with gynecologic cancer: A Turkish pilot study

ABSTRACT

Although gynecological cancers are among the most common cancers worldwide, these diagnoses are among the most traumatic experiences in women’s lives. This study aimed to examine the effects of logotherapy-based, nurse-guided meaning attribution conversations (MACs) on traumatic stress symptoms, post-traumatic growth, spiritual well-being, and life meaning attribution in gynecological cancer patients. This single-blind, randomized controlled trial consisted of face-to-face interviews with 68 women with gynecological cancer who received chemotherapy at Karadeniz Technical University Health Application And Research Center Farabi Hospital in 2019. Women in the intervention group underwent seven MAC sessions, whereas women in the control group only received routine nursing care. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form (PIF), the Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale (TSSS), the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS). Descriptive statistics and parametric and nonparametric tests (Mann – Whitney U-test, Friedman test, Chi-squared test, and Fisher’s exact test) were used to analyze the data. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05246462). We observed statistically significant differences in the post-intervention and follow-up mean TSSS, PTGI, and MLQ scores (p = .000) between groups. However, mean total SWBS scores were not significantly different between groups (p = .145). This study demonstrated that MACs decreased the traumatic stress symptoms of women with gynecological cancer and increased their post-traumatic growth and ability to attribute meaning to life, but did not affect their spiritual well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Gynecological cancers
• meaning attribution conversations
• posttraumatic growth
• psychosocial care
• traumatic stress

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to especially thank all women who volunteered to participate in this study and physician Hatice KAL, who works in the chemotherapy unit and enables me to communicate with women. I would also like to thank William Breitbart, who allowed me to adapt the Individual Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (IMCP) guideline to Turkish cancer patients in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data sets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Clinical trial registration

Clinical Trial ID: NCT05246462

Ethical standards statement

Commission approval (Protocol number: 2019/48) from Karadeniz Technical University Health Practices and Research Center Farabi Hospital Clinical Research Ethics Committee and institutional permission from the relevant hospital were obtained.

Patient consent statement

The patients were informed about the purpose of the study, and their informed consent, prepared following the Declaration of Helsinki, was obtained.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.