Kaori Yagasaki: Interviewing Cancer Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

January 24, 2022

As a specialist in cancer nursing, I had been working on a study using interview methods with elderly cancer patients since two years ago.

However, due to the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, I had to refrain from entering hospitals and was forced to suspend my research. It was a quiet period when the number of outpatients plummeted due to requests to refrain from non-essential outings. The state of emergency in Tokyo lasted for a long time, and it was finally in the fall of 2020 that I was able to resume the survey for a short period.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy have weakened immune systems, so they are usually highly conscious of infection prevention, and many have been even more thorough during the pandemic. Since this study targeted the elderly, I was concerned that they might refuse to be interviewed for fear of infection, but contrary to my expectations, many people graciously agreed to participate. To honor this, we fulfilled our responsibility by strictly implementing infection control measures, such as monitoring the researchers' health, wearing masks, ensuring room ventilation, and maintaining distance from patients.

However, interviewing during the pandemic faced more difficulties than imagined. For example, several of the elderly participants had hearing loss. Wearing masks and social distancing significantly hindered communication. One person who said they could "hear a little" asked me to "please take off the mask." They explained that they usually supplement their understanding of spoken language by watching the other person's mouth movements. That said, I could not take off the mask, so I managed to finish by using written communication and by getting closer to the patient and raising my voice. In another interview, I tried wearing a face shield, but my voice was absorbed by the shield, and the dialogue did not go smoothly. Interviews during the pandemic are difficult because half of the face is hidden by a mask, making it hard to see expressions, and the distance between both parties is great. Since this is a survey using interview methods rather than just a simple conversation, the tone of voice, pauses in conversation, and facial expressions are extremely important pieces of information. Furthermore, the distance from the other person and the seating position are important requirements for drawing out deep thoughts. These were hindered during the pandemic, becoming one of the research limitations. It is a headache for a researcher.

I believe that listening to the raw voices of cancer patients and understanding their true needs forms the foundation for developing new care. Furthermore, interviews with cancer patients are valuable opportunities where important things that researchers cannot imagine are spoken, providing us with insights. I am filled with gratitude for those who carefully shared their experiences under conditions that were far from ideal.