For the last few years, the incidence and mortality of oral cancer has been raised gradually in Taiwan since 1991. The treatment for oral cancer include chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, Surgery is the main treatment for the disease. Patients and the family usually suffer from distress since the disease diagnosed and after the oral reconstructive surgery. The purposes of this study were to test the efficacy of an individual tailored health education program for promoting psychosocial adjustment and improving health related the quality of life of oral cancer patients after oral reconstruction surgery.
Methods:
This study was a quasi-experimental research design. There were thirty participants in each group completed the study. The experimental group received twice individual tailored health education which were given before the the participant received reconstruction surgery and before discharge, whereas the control group did not received an additional help form the study. Data was collected before the reconstruction surgery and one month after the surgery by using the study questionnaires which included the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS), EORTC QLQ-C30, and EORTC QLQ-H&N35.
Results:
The study results showed that there was no significant difference between the group in the psychosocial adjustment at preoperation (t=-0.179, p=0.844), one month postoperation (t=0.161, p=0.873). Significant difference were found between the group in the quality of life after the reconstruction surgery in the following domains: role function(Wald X2=8.370, p<0.05), social function(Wald X2=8.021, p<0.05), symptom of insomnia(Wald X2=7.447, p<0.05),diarrhea (Wald X2=7.403, p<0.05), pain (Wald X2=6.969, p<0.05), swallowing(Wald X2=17.861,p<0.05), open the mouth(β=-20.555, p<0.05), dry mouth(β=-28.143, p<0.05), and sticky sputum (β=-27.584, p<0.05) prior discharge, one month after the reconstruction surgery.
Conclusion:
The study results indicated that the individual tailored health education can not significantly improve the psychosocial adjustment, but significantly improve the quality of life for oral cancer patients after the oral reconstruction surgery had done.