CN15 - Opinions and experiences of patients receiving oral chemotherapy: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background: The importance of oral chemotherapy in cancer patients is increasing day by day. Oral chemotherapy drugs provide many advantages in terms of social and economic. The desired impact in oral chemotherapy treatment can be achieved with patient adherence. The aim of this study was to investigate the opininons and experiences of who are receiving oral chemotherapy. Methods: This research was designed as a qualitative study. The study is conducted on eighteen patients who were admitted to the oncology clinic of a university hospital in January 2018. The patients who agreed to participate in the study were included in the study. There is no limitation in the type of cancer disease in the practice of the study. In this study a semi structured interview form was used, this form created as a result of review of the literature. Data were collected through face-to-face individual interviews. All interviews were recorded with voice recorder with permission from the patients. The data obtained from the interviews were transcripted after each interview and evaluated with the thematic content analysis method. Results: As a result of the content analysis identified five main themes. These themes were prescribing oral chemotherapy, administering oral chemotherapy, side effects and control of oral chemotherapy, approach of health professionals, support of family and relatives. In the interviews, the majority of patients were using capecitabine as oral chemotherapy. Patients stated that health professionals for drug use may differ in their recommendations. patients stated that they had problems such as constipation, nausea / vomiting, change of taste, fatigue and mouth instability, and that information on side effect control was made by the physician at the beginning of the treatment. Conclusions: Interdisciplinary approaches are needed to increase compliance of patients with treatment, to monitor treatment side effects and to ensure safe use of medications. It is necessary for nurses to take an active role in patient education and counseling in order to determine the weaknesses and opportunities for recovery of patients during oral chemotherapy. Legal entity responsible for the study: Sevinç Kutlutürkan. Funding: Has not received any funding. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.