Poster Session
Breast cancer is the leading cause of early death in women, most will be subjected to a mastectomy. The goal of this work was to describe nursing care in sexuality of mastectomized women, during menopause and analyse the way sexuality is experienced by women. We conducted a systematic review of literature using the EBSCO Databases such as: LILASC, SciELO and COHRANE using as keywords: sexuality, menopause, and mastectomy. The inclusion criteria were: full-papers, time length since 2007-2017. From the presented articles we selected 25 of them. It was possible to discern and gain a new understanding of the way sexuality relates to many of the other dimensions of being, as a part of a person's whole. The mastectomized and menopausal woman goes through many transitions and changes in her life because of the symbolism attributed to the body, breast and menopause. The compromise of her self-concept, image and esteem has an impact on the conjugal relationship and sexuality. That may bring challenges to the couples return to a satisfactory sexual life. We conclude that the physical and psychological effects of breast cancer and the treatment change the way women see themselves, relates to others in the social and relationship sphere and, consequently experiences their sexuality. It’s necessary to improve people’s knowledge about sex and sexuality and institute open lines of communication between nurses and nursing clients. Sexuality approach needs to integrate nursing care, by confronting real practice with theory – that’s not the case. Nurses need to individualize nursing care to be able to identify potential issues that may arise. It's necessary to go beyond the physical and consider different aspects of sexuality. That means a psycho-social-cultural and spiritual view of the client and his or her sexuality, making also a large investment in health education and literacy.