Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of gastric cancer patients toward nutritional therapy.

BACKGROUND

To investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of patients with gastric cancer (GC) toward nutritional therapy.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to March 2024 at the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University (Wuxi, China) and enrolled patients with GC. Questionnaires (Cronbach's  = 0.923) were used to collect data on demographics and KAP dimensions. Scores >75% were considered good. Multivariable analyses were performed to examine the factors associated with KAP. A structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to examine the relationships among KAP dimensions.

RESULTS

The analysis included 486 valid questionnaires. The median knowledge, attitude, and practice scores were 6.0 (0-16; 37.5%), 26.0 (7-35; 74.3%), and 28.7 (8-40; 71.7%) indicating poor KAP. Only agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and water conservancy production personnel (OR = 0.09, 95%CI: 0.02-0.49,  = 0.006) were independently associated with knowledge. Knowledge (OR = 1.11, 95%CI: 1.05-1.18,  < 0.001) and a monthly income of 10,000-20,000 (OR = 3.85, 95%CI: 1.23-12.06,  = 0.021) were independently associated with attitude. Knowledge (OR = 1.22, 95%CI: 1.15-1.30,  < 0.001), attitude (OR = 1.21, 95%CI: 1.11-1.32,  < 0.001), personnel other than leading cadres of state organs and enterprises (all OR < 1 and all  < 0.05), and a monthly income of 10,000-20,000 yuan (OR = 3.02, 95%CI: 1.15-7.96,  = 0.025) were independently associated with practice. Knowledge had a direct positive influence on attitude ( = 0.350,  < 0.001) and practice ( = 0.460,  < 0.001) and an indirect positive influence on practice ( = 0.146,  < 0.001). Attitude had a direct positive influence on practice ( = 0.417,  < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Patients with GC in Wuxi partly had poor KAP toward nutritional support.