Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer in Taiwanese woman and the leading cause of death for 35- to 59-year-old Taiwanese women. The burden of stress is likely to multiply geometrically when a mother is facing a final course of breast cancer and is raising her adolescents simultaneously. Little is known about what are the daily lived experiences of Taiwanese women living with a terminal breast cancer and are raising their adolescents at the same time. The purpose of this study was to document the lived experiences of Taiwanese women living with a terminal breast cancer. Descriptive Phenomenology provided the methodological basis for data generation and analysis. Face-to-face interviews and observations were conducted with 4 women who were taking care at home. A total of 37 interviews were yielded during the multiple occasions of data collection. Thematic analysis guided by Giorgi and van Manen was used to analyze the text generated from the interviews and field notes. Managing Everyday Life was the main theme that depicted the woman's daily experiences. The day-to-day of the Managing Everyday Life was best understood in the context of the following two sub-themes: Redefining Roles and Making Things Work. The meaning units of each sub-theme offered details of women's feelings, thoughts, concerns, and action-oriented responses to a Manage Everyday Life. This study informs health professionals that the diagnosed woman encountered difficulties and problems in their day-to-day lives. It is ethically essential to develop interventions to assist women to deal with their day-to-day lives in future clinical practices.

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)