Development and validation of oral chemotherapy self-management scale

Qi Peng,Wanying Wu

doi:10.1186/s12885-020-07404-0

Abstract

BackgroundWith the increase of oral chemotherapy drugs, patients receiving cancer treatment prefer oral chemotherapy versus intravenous, given equal efficacy and toxicity. However, they need to take an active part in their care, which is vital with home-based oral therapy, therefore the self-management is important for patients with oral chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the development of self-management assessment tools for oral chemotherapy still lags behind.MethodsThe OCSMS item pool was formulated based on literature review and semi-structured interviews, An initial scale containing 5 dimensions and 38 items was constructed through research seminar, Delphi survey and pilot testing. To assess the validity and reliability, We recruited 261 patients from cancer hospital in China.ResultsA 36-item scale was developed with five dimensions identified through factor analysis: daily life management, symptom management, medication management, emotional cognitive management and social support. Cronbach’s coefficient Alpha, split-half coefficient, test-retest reliability and S-CVI/UA scores were 0.929, 0.773, 0.966 and 0.833, respectively, indicating that OCSMS has good reliability and validity.ConclusionsThe OCSMS is a valid, reliable measurement method of the self-management ability of patients with oral chemotherapy. The OCSMS shows potential as a tool to ensure the safety of patients with cancer. The OCSMS may help evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to improve the self-management ability of patients.

Highlights

With the increase of oral chemotherapy drugs, patients receiving cancer treatment prefer oral chemotherapy versus intravenous, given equal efficacy and toxicity
Self-management was proposed by Corbin and Straus for chronic disease [7] and has been defined as managing symptoms, treatments, lifestyle alterations and psychosocial consequences of health conditions [8]
Numerous studies have shown that enabling effective self-management of medication in nonmalignant chronic diseases (i.e.,Hypertension) results in better disease control and a better quality of life [9, 10]

Summary

Introduction

With the increase of oral chemotherapy drugs, patients receiving cancer treatment prefer oral chemotherapy versus intravenous, given equal efficacy and toxicity. They need to take an active part in their care, which is vital with home-based oral therapy, the self-management is important for patients with oral chemotherapy. The development of self-management assessment tools for oral chemotherapy still lags behind. Chemotherapy is one of the most important treatments for cancer, and the route of chemotherapy administration is developing continuously. Patients are likely to choose oral chemotherapy than intravenous chemotherapy even with their same efficacy and toxicity [4]. With oral anticancer agents becoming widely common, a critical shift has occurred from clinic-based.

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