Symptom alleviation and self-care among breast cancer survivors after treatment completion.

BACKGROUND This article elucidates the symptom experiences of breast cancer survivors after completion of their treatment. It also provides self reports of the types, frequency of use, and effectiveness of self-care measures to treat the symptoms they are experiencing. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this article is to describe the self-care strategies used to alleviate symptoms reported by breast cancer survivors recruited from a secure state coalition database. METHODS The Therapy-Related Symptom Checklist (TRSC) was used to identify the occurrence and severity of ongoing symptoms in breast cancer survivors who were six months or more post-treatment. Two groups were identified for further exploration of self-care. FINDINGS The self-care method category most commonly reported was diet/nutrition/lifestyle and the least common category was herbs/vitamins/complementary therapy. With few exceptions, the reported methods were perceived as effective.