An assessment of the impacts of exercise and simple lymphatic drainage practices for lymphedema prevention regarding gynecological cancer on lymphedema development, lower extremity functional condition, quality of life and social appearance anxiety:a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT Akın Işık, R., An Assessment of the Impacts of Exercise and Simple Lymphatic Drainage Practices for Lymphedema Prevention regarding Gynecological Cancer on Lymphedema Development, Lower Extremity Functional Condition, Quality of Life and Social Appearance Anxiety:A randomized controlled trial,Hacettepe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Gynecology and Obstetrics Nursing Program, Doctoral Thesis, Ankara, 2019. The present study was conducted with the purpose of assessing the impacts of exercise and basic lymphatic drainage practices on lymphedema development, lower extremity functional condition, quality of life and social appearance anxiety in the scope of preventing lymphedema associated to gynecological cancer. The study was designed as a pretest-posttest controlled experimental study. The participants of the study included women who consulted to the Hacettepe University Adult Hospital Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic and Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital Gynecology Clinic and who were diagnosed with gynecological oncology. The participants were stratified by their age and body mass indexes separated into blocs, randomized, and as a result, 4 different groups were formed. In the intervention groups, exercise (n=17), basic lymphatic drainage (n=17) and both of the practices were applied together. On the other hand, the control group (n=18) received routine nursing care which is regularly practiced in hospitals. The research data were collected in the 3rd month, between the dates of 01.08.2017 and 31.12.2018 in a preoperative and postoperative manner, and for data collection; data collection form, information form concerning lymphedema, lower extremity environment scale form, lower extremity lower extremity functional scale (LEFS), SF-36 quality of life scale and social appearance anxiety scale were employed. The data obtained as a result of the data collection were assessed via number, percentage, average, standard deviation, chi-square, Kruskall Wallis, Wilcoxon and correlation tests. The study findings revealed that %38.9 of the women in the control group developed a lower extremity lymphedema. The findings also showed that the lower extremity lymphedema development is prevented in women who had a gynecological surgery through exercise and basic lymphatic drainage practices, quality of life was enhanced, social appearance anxiety was reduced and the functional condition of women was increased (p<0.05). The research study suggests to use safe exercise and basic lymphatic drainage practices in women who had a gynecological surgery to prevent lower extremity lymphedema development, to increase the quality of life, to reduce social appearance anxiety and to increase functional condition. Key words: Gynecologıcal Cancer, Lower Limb Lymphedema, Nursing, Quality of life,