Effects of health education based on the theory of planned behavior on the quality of life and sexual life in patients with cervical cancer

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of the health education model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on the quality of life and sexual life in patients with cervical cancer six months after the surgery. Methods Totally 60 patients with cervical cancer who were treated and received surgery in the First Maternity and Infant Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University from March 2016 to April 2017 were selected by convenient sampling, and equally divided into a control group and a treatment group according to the random number table. Patients in the control group received routine health education after the surgery, while patients in the treatment group received the health education based on TPB. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cervix (FACT-Cx) and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) were used to observe the difference in the quality of life and sexual life between the patients in the two groups six months after the surgery. Results The total scores in all dimensions of FACT-Cx of the patients in the treatment group six months after the surgery was higher than that of the patients in the control group (P<0.05) . In FSFI, the scores in dyspareunia and sexual satisfaction of the patients in the treatment group were higher than those of the patients in the control group (P<0.05) . Conclusions The health education model based on TPB can effectively improve the quality of life and sexual life in patients with cervical cancer six months after the surgery, thus worthy of clinical application. Key words: Quality of life; Cervical cancer; Quality of sexual life; Theory of planned behavior