The effect of telephone symptom triage protocols on symptom management, quality of life and self-care agency in patients with cancer who applied systemic treatment

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of telephone symptom triage protocols on symptom management, quality of life and self-care agency in patients with cancer who applied systemic treatment. Method: This randomized controlled experimental study was conducted between August 2018 and July 2019, with 33 intervention and 32 control groups who met the inclusion criteria, a total of 65 patients who applied to outpatient clinics of Akdeniz University Hospital Medical Oncology Clinic and Daily Chemotherapy Unit. Personal Information Form, Chemotherapy Symptom Assessment Scale, FACT-G (Version 4) Quality of Life Scale and Self-Care Agency Scale were used to collect the data. Symptom triage protocol was applied to the patients in the intervention group during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cycle chemotherapy treatment. Preliminary test data were collected during the second cycle chemotherapy treatment and posttest data was collected at the third month. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS 23.0 package program. Results: It was observed in the intervention group patients according to the control group, decreased the severity of symptom of appetite change and degree of discomfort from symptom of feeling anxious, worried (p<0.05); mean scores of quality of life and self-care agency increased after the aplication (p<0.05). Quality of life and self-care agency increased as the frequency, severity and degree of discomfort associated with chemotherapy decreased. Conclusion: According to the results, it was found that telephone symptom triage protocol increased symptom management, quality of life and self-care agency in patients with cancer who applied systemic treatment; as the symptom control increased, quality of life and self-care agency increased. It is recommended to use the symptom triage protocol and to extend these applications in patients with systemic treatment cancer. Key words: Patients with cancer, self-care agency, symptom triage protocol, symptom management, quality of life