The effect of web based patient education on symptom management and quality of life of patients with diagnosed lung cancer

This study was planned to determine the effect of web-based patient education on symptom management and quality of life with lung cancer patient. The study was quasi experimental and conducted with single-group repeated measure design. The study was conducted at Akdeniz University Hospital, Mustafa Samur Chemotherapy Daily Unit with 30 patient that met the inclusion criterias. In the collection of research data, Personal Information Form, Lung Cancer Symptom Scale, Modified Borg Scale, EORTC QLQ-C30 and LC-13 module was used. The web site that prepared by researcher was evalutaed with DISCERN handbook, Evaluation of Web Content Form and System Usability Scale. The data were evaluated with using Social Science 21.0 package program. In the analysis of the research, descriptive statistics, Friedman test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test were used. To determine the relationship between the average scores of scales each other the correlation test was used. To determine the relationship between symptoms and quality of life the regression test was used. 95% significance level was used in order to determine the differences in the analysis (α=0.05 tolerance). As a result, the concordance of the scores of experts in the evaluation of web site was evaluated with Kendall's coefficient of concordance and it was found that evaluations were consistent (W:0.944 p<0.05). According to DISCERN guide, overall rating average score was found 4.6±0.5 out of 5. The analysis results of Web Content Evaluation Form, was adopted in accordance and average of all items were found 3±0 except for item (2.9±0.3). The average SUS score of web site that was prepared by the researcher and evaluated by 22 patients was found 81.81 ± 2.9. Results showed that, significant difference are determined between the measurement of the social subscale of EORTC QLQ-C30, fatigue, nausea and insomnia subscales of EORTC QLQ-C30 symptom scales, dyspnea and hair loss subscales of EORTC QLQ-C30 LC-13. In the study, it is concluded that the information contained on the web site is qualified, appropriate and usable. Further, the web based patient education contributes to the symptom management of patients such as fatigue, nausea and insomnia.