Mosalo Annah, Maree Johanna E
Department of Health Studies, College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Health SA. 2025 Apr 23;30:2815. doi: 10.4102/hsag.v30i0.2815. eCollection 2025.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women in South Africa. Treatment is tailored but external beam radiation and brachytherapy with or without concomitant chemotherapy are commonly used.
This study aimed to pilot test a support programme for women receiving curative radiotherapy for cervical cancer.
The Radiation Oncology Department at an academic hospital in the Gauteng province.
An intervention design and pre-test post-test approach was used. The primary outcome was perceived social support and the secondary outcome was quality of life (QoL). Census sampling entered 56 women in the programme but only 15 completed it. The Berlin Social Support Scale (BSSS) and EORTC QOQ-CX24 served as data collection instruments. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data using a completer only approach.
The majority of both the pre-intervention ( = 56) and post-intervention ( = 15) groups were older than 40 years (62.5%, = 35 and 73.4%, = 11, respectively). Most of the support categories except for 'support seeking' showed statistical significant differences before and after the programme. Symptom experience had the highest mean score of the symptoms scales both before and after the programme ( = 50.7 and 41.8, respectively).
Positive results were obtained in terms of support, but QoL did not show the same trend. However, it would be feasible to refine the programme and conduct a second pilot test.
Our study seems to be the first of its kind and illustrates the positive influence a support programme can have on the lives of women receiving radiotherapy for cervical cancer.
宫颈癌是南非女性中第二常见的癌症。治疗方案是量身定制的，但通常采用外照射放疗和近距离放疗，可联合或不联合化疗。
本研究旨在对接受宫颈癌根治性放疗的女性的支持项目进行试点测试。
豪登省一家学术医院的放射肿瘤学部门。
采用干预设计和前后测方法。主要结果是感知到的社会支持，次要结果是生活质量（QoL）。普查抽样使56名女性进入该项目，但只有15人完成。柏林社会支持量表（BSSS）和欧洲癌症研究与治疗组织生活质量问卷-CX24作为数据收集工具。采用仅对完成者进行分析的方法，用描述性统计分析数据。
干预前组（n = 56）和干预后组（n = 15）的大多数女性年龄超过40岁（分别为62.5%，n = 35和73.4%，n = 11）。除“寻求支持”外，大多数支持类别在项目前后显示出统计学上的显著差异。症状体验在项目前后的症状量表中平均得分最高（分别为50.7和41.8）。
在支持方面取得了积极成果，但生活质量并未呈现相同趋势。然而，完善该项目并进行第二次试点测试是可行的。
我们的研究似乎是同类研究中的首例，说明了支持项目对接受宫颈癌放疗的女性生活可能产生的积极影响。
