Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What is the best way for a family to cope with a breast cancer diagnosis? 
2. How did having breast cancer affect you?
3. How would you describe your life before having breast cancer?
4. And then how would you describe your life after breast cancer?
5. What age were your children at the time of your diagnosis?
6. What treatment did you go through and for how long?
7. What types of coping methods did you personally peruse
8. Did you encourage your family to engage in any coping mechanisms? If you did what were they? If you didn't, do you wish you would have, and what types?
9. Can you describe to me ways that the American Cancer Society is helpful?
10. What roles and or new responsibilities did your husband have to take on?
11. For you as an individual, what was the hardest part of your diagnosis?
12. What was the hardest part for your family?
13. Initially, did you want to tell your kids, and how did you think they would handle it?
14. As time progresses, does it become easier to handle? What makes you think this?
15. Having helped out with the breast cancer support group for a very long time, what can you tell me about how younger children handle knowing about a breast cancer diagnosis?
16. Seeing as you are a founder of the support group, what made you start this group?
17. If you could, would you have started one with your family?
18. Who was your main supporter throughout your treatment? In what was were they there for you and did you notice it taking a toll on them?
19. How did you feel telling your family?
20. If you could say anything to a family struggling with a new diagnosis, what would it be? Is there anything specific you would recommend to them, if so what?

Third Interview Questions

1. What is the best way to cope with having cancer?
2. After spending so much time with people who have been diagnosed with cancer, what books would you recommend to them?
3. What about the families and friends of the diagnosed? What types of coping methods would you recommend to them?
4. What do you look for in a person that would make you recommend other types of methods to them?
5. How has being around people going through such a hard point in their life effected you?
6. What methods of coping could you recommend to those who are younger?
7. Why would you recommend those?
8. Do you feel that it is important for a person diagnosed to take care of themselves and act as though the disease does not exist? Or they should work with it? Why or why not.
9. To you, does coping with anything difficult in life, not just cancer, take root in taking care of
   themselves as an individual first? Why?
10.  If you could say anything to someone who has been newly diagnosed and has lost hope, what would it be?

Blog 6: Second Interview

1. How many years have you been working with oncology patients?
2. What was it that even began your interest in nursing?
3. Are there ways that you feel you help these types of patients, besides being a heath care provider? If so what are they?
4. In the previous interview you stated that you also help with work done at a support group the hospital runs, what made you decide to work there as well?
5. Was there a specific event in your carer that led you to read psycho social books?
6. What way have you found to be most effective when helping these patients deal with the difficulties of having cancer?
7. Is there anything more that you wish you could do for your patients? If so what, and why?
8. I know that even though the area of the hospital that specializes in oncology is very small, patients are always different age, gender, and race. Does the care for each type patient vary? And if so, how does it?

Interview Preparation.

1. I plan on interviewing Livia Vargas. Upon my arrival in the Oncology department she seemed the friendliest and most willing to help me. She was very intrigued by the idea that I was working on a project with Oncology as it's topic. Not only does she have a great amount of experience with the Oncology patients, but she also is the Oncology navigator on the floor.
2. The additional questions that I plan to ask Livia are

• Is there anything that you particularly dislike about working with these patients, if there is can you please explain why?
• Can you tell me about the types of patients that you wanted to work with once you began to study nursing?
• If given the option, would you transfer to another department? Why or why not?
• I know that working with cancer patients can be a very emotional task, can you tell me about a time you became emotional about a patient? Was this difficult for you?