Family caring strategies in neutropenia.

Aggressive chemotherapy protocols result in neutropenia in approximately half of all patients receiving chemotherapy. Thus, neutropenia continues to be a significant and potentially life-threatening side effect of treatment, even with use of colony-stimulating factors. Families of patients with neutropenia often provide the primary healing environment because most chemotherapy protocols are managed on an outpatient basis.

Turbulent waiting: rural families experiencing chemotherapy-induced neutropenia.

Purpose/objectives: To explore how rural families understand and manage the chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN) experience.

Design: Qualitative, inductive approach using family interviews.

Setting: Family homes in a rural community in the midwestern United States.