Background: Many qualitative studies have focused on the experience of nurses specialized in oncology and the ways they describe and understand that experience.
Objective: We aimed to perform a metasynthesis, a systematic review, and an analysis of qualitative studies focused on the experiences and perspectives of oncology nurses about work-related issues.
Methods: We searched international publications to identify relevant qualitative research exploring oncology nurses' experiences. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes and synthesize them.
Results: We identified 63 articles from 61 studies (>1000 nurses) from 23 countries. Two main themes emerged: (1) the relational dimension of work-related issues, on the one hand with other professionals and on the other hand with patients and families; and (2) the strategies for coping with the work-related difficulties, including partnership, communication and support, and training.
Conclusions: Our results revealed the central place of loneliness. The nurses simultaneously described feeling lonely due to their individual stance and being alone due to the absence of institutional support, with a confusion between these 2 forms of loneliness. This finding echoes specific aspects of oncology.
Implications for practice: Specific training and support group appear to be relevant ways to help oncology nurse to cope better with this loneliness and to bear the stress of this difficult field.