Continuous care from nursing autonomy in physically disabled patients diagnosed with prostate cancer

Abstract

Nursing staff are part of the healthcare team that performs important functions in the care of patients diagnosed with cancer. This care is continuous, humanized, therapeutic, and characterized by personal interaction and compassion, all geared towards comprehensive care that meets the expectations of patients undergoing treatment for cancer and experiencing coexisting physical and motor disabilities. This study proposes to analyze how continuous care is managed and administered from a nursing perspective in adult patients with physical and motor disabilities diagnosed with prostate cancer. To this end, a systematic literature review was conducted, examining articles published between 2004 and 2025 in the SciELO, Google Scholar, and Dialnet databases. The guiding question was formulated using the acronym PICo. The search strategy employed the following Health Sciences (DeCS) descriptors: “Continuous care,” “Oncology nursing,” “Terminally ill,” “Chronic illness or physical-motor disability,” “Neoplasm,” “Oncology units,” and “Adult.” Using the Boolean operators AND and OR, a flowchart (PRISMA) was created. The theoretical frameworks and knowledge organization were interpreted in the 19 selected bibliographies. Addressing the management and handling of continuous care and its integrative approach from the perspective of nursing autonomy allowed for the exploration of essential knowledge for the professional development of nurses. This requires a vision centered on the biopsychosocial context of continuity of care, as nurses act as agents of health and well-being in the care of adult patients with coexisting physical-motor disabilities diagnosed with prostate cancer and their families.