Education and psychological support meet the supportive care needs of Taiwanese women three months after surgery for newly diagnosed breast cancer: a non-randomised quasi-experimental study.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have comprehensively examined the effectiveness of information and psychosocial support on all dimensions of cancer patients' supportive care needs.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of education and psychological support on anxiety, symptom distress, social support, and unmet supportive care needs of Taiwanese women newly diagnosed with breast cancer over 3 months after surgery.


METHODS
Two-group, non-randomised quasi-experimental design.


METHODS
The general surgical outpatient department of the largest teaching medical centre in northern Taiwan.


METHODS
Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer (N=80) were divided into experimental (n=40) and control (n=40) groups.


METHODS
The experimental group received education and psychological support in the form of individual face-to-face and telephone follow-up sessions; the control group received routine care. Data were collected during the patients' first postoperative visit (baseline), 1 month after surgery, and 3 months after surgery.


RESULTS
After adjusting for covariates, the levels of symptom distress and unmet needs for participants in the experimental group were lower at 1 and 3 months after surgery than for those in the control group, with the results at 3 months achieving significance. However, the sexuality needs for both groups were not significantly different at 1 and 3 months. Furthermore, levels of state anxiety were significantly lower for the experimental group at 1 and 3 months than for the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
The education and psychological support components of our intervention programme effectively improved the unmet supportive care needs of patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer 3 months after surgery. Following prolonged treatment, women with breast cancer still have physical, psychological, and information care needs. Thus, clinical healthcare personnel should continually and actively provide culturally sensitive, individualised, and accessible information and psychological support to these patients.
Administration Center of Medical Research Department, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin-Kou, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
Mei-Nan
MN
Liao
Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin-Kou, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
Shin-Cheh
SC
Chen
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin-Kou, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
Yung-Chang
YC
Lin
Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin-Kou, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
Miin-Fu
MF
Chen
Department of Nursing, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin-Kou, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
Chao-Hui
CH
Wang
Department of Nursing, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: swjane@gw.cgust.edu.tw.
Sui-Whi
SW
Jane
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012944:Social Support; D013624:Taiwan
Breast cancer; Education; Needs; Psychological; Supportive care; Treatment