Study on systematic health education for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma undergone radiotherapy

Abstract

Objective To explore the application effect of systematic health education in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma undergone radiotherapy.Methods Eighty-three patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma from the Department of Oncology,Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College from January 2009 to January 2011 were randomly divided into two groups:the control group (41 patients) and the observational group (42 patients).The control group received routine health education,while the observational group received systematic health education with a health education guidebook throughout the treatment period.Questionnaire on the radiotherapy knowledge was used on the 10th day during radiation treatment to evaluate patients' mastering of the knowledge and their satisfaction with medical personnel.Results 98％ patients in the observational group knew the aetiological agent of nasopharyngeal carcinoma,95％ of them knew the importance of radiotherapy,95％ patients knew the secondary reaction of radiotherapy and matters need attention,98％knew the dietary instruction and 98％ knew the discharge guidance,all of which were higher than those in control group (76％,78％,80％,78％,78％,respectively).The differences were statistically significant (x2 =8.742,5.332,4.260,7.499,7.499,respectively; P ＜ 0.05).In observational group,the incidence rate of mucous membrane of mouth reaction was 35.7％,radiodermatitis accounted for 35％,mucous membrane of nasopharynx accounted for 30.9％,jaw joint functional disorder accounted for 38％,all of which were lower than those in the control group (73.1％,70.7％,65.8％,75.6％,respectively).The differences were statistically significant (Hc =10.266,10.173,8.772,10.414,respectively; P ＜ 0.05).The satisfaction with medical personnel in observational group was 95％,was higher than that in the control group (80％),and the difference were statistically significant (x2 =4.26,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Systematic health education can increase the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients' knowledge about radiotherapy,reduce the incidence rates of adverse reactions,improve their satisfaction with the nursing,and promote good communication between patients and nurses. Key words: Health education; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Radiotherapy; Therpy effect