A home-based, nurse-led health program for postoperative patients with early-stage cervical cancer: A randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE

To investigate the effect of a home-based, nurse-led health program on quality of life and family function for postoperative patients with early-stage cervical cancer.

METHOD

226 cervical cancer patients, from two hospitals between December 2012 and April 2014, were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Patients in the intervention group received an individual home-based, nurse-led health program (family-care team provision, physiological rehabilitation, emotion-release management, informal social support system, and follow-up monitoring), in addition to conventional nursing education. Patients in the control group only received conventional nursing education. The Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-Cervix, Female Sexual Function Index, and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale were used for assessment before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

After the intervention, significant improvements were found for the quality of life total scores (t=-7.650, p=0.000), sexual function scores (t=-6.465, p=0.000), cohesion scores (t=-8.417, p=0.001) and adaptability scores (t=-10.735, p=0.000) in the intervention group. Moreover, proportions of family types were also improved (χ2 = 17.77, p=0.000). However, for the control group, no significant differences were found except for a decrease in sexual function scores (t = -4.035, p=0.000). Significant differences in change scores between groups were also found for quality of life (F=41.980, p=0.000), Sexual function (F=37.380, p=0.000), cohesion (F=15.268, p=0.000) and adaptability (F=16.998, p=0.000).

CONCLUSION

A home-based, nurse-led health promotion program improves the quality of life, sexual function and family function in postoperative patients with early-stage cervical cancer.