Psychosocial care in oncology nursing: a study of social knowledge.

A combination of focus group and individual interviews aimed to examine psychosocial aspects of nursing within a social context and social knowledge held by two teams of ward-based oncology nurses. Five core categories of knowledge emerged: knowledge of how to care, knowledge of the patient, knowledge of the ward, knowledge of nurses coping, and knowledge of involvement. Involvement or emotional closeness was seen as a necessary, inevitable and potentially stressful feature of psychosocial care. The authors conclude that interpersonal and professional aspects of nursing must be balanced in order to provide effective psychosocial care.