Beneath the cooling cap: An Exploration of women's and nurses' experiences of scalp cooling in the context of breast cancer

Abstract

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia is reported to be one of the more distressing side effects of systemic cancer treatment. In Australia, a number of specialist cancer centres have introduced scalp-cooling technology to prevent or reduce the incidence of alopecia for individuals receiving chemotherapy. The main recipients of scalp-cooling treatment are women with breast cancer. Cancer nurses working in specialist day therapy units are responsible for the clinical management of scalp cooling, including patient education and support, and monitoring of this technology. Research on the use of scalp cooling for chemotherapy-induced alopecia has focused on the clinical efficiency of the treatment in preventing or reducing hair loss. Less is known about the experiences of patients receiving this treatment, the perspectives of cancer nurses and the practical impact of delivering scalp cooling in clinical settings.

This thesis presents findings on women’s and nurses’ experiences and perspectives on scalp-cooling treatment to reduce hair loss in the context of chemotherapy for breast cancer. Hermeneutic inquiry guided this qualitative study, conducted with women receiving treatment for breast cancer and cancer nurses who provide care to these women at two cancer centres in New South Wales, Australia. The women’s and nurses’ experiences were explored using semi structured interviews. Clinical observation of the delivery of scalp cooling, including mapping of the clinical workflow, was undertaken to obtain a real world snapshot of the impact of delivering scalp cooling in the clinical setting to inform future practice.