The effect of self-care education on self-care agency and symptom control in women with gynecological cancer

This study aimed to determine the effect of self-care education on self-care agency and symptom control in women with gynecological cancer; pre-test and post-test were conducted in a experimental manner with the control group. The research was carried out in the gynecology ward of a university hospital between November 2019 and July 2021. This study was conducted with 60 patients with gynecological cancer, 30 of which were experimental and 30 control, who applied to the gynecology service for chemotherapy (CT) between the specified dates and met the research participation criteria. 'Personal Information Form', 'Self-Care Agency Scale (SCAS)', 'Edmonton Symptom Identification Scale (ESAS)' and 'Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Score (ECOG PS)' were used to collect data. Percentage distributions, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney-U test, t-test, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient were implemented for analysis of the data. In the study, the pre-test SSRI score average of the patients in the experimental group was 115.03±15.85; the post-test mean score was found to be 125.80±10.79. It was determined that those in the control group were 115.03±14.38 in the pre-test and 122.83±10.35 in the post-test. While there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of pre-test and post-test SCAS scores (p>0.05), a statistically significant difference was found in terms of intra-group SCAS scores (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the mean scores of only ESAS insomnia after the 1st course of CT of the patients in the experimental and control groups (p<0.05). After the 6th course of CT, it was found that the ESAS fatigue, nausea, insomnia, changes in skin/nails, numbness on hands symptom score averages of the experimental group were lower than the control group, but the difference was statistically insignificant. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean scores of ESAS pain, feeling well, and dyspnea in the experimental and control groups after the 6th course of CT (p<0.05). It was the slightly negative statistically significant difference was found between the SCAS scores of the patients in the control group after the 6th course of CT and only the ESAS insomnia scores (r=-0.402; p=0.028). As a result, it was revealed that education given to patients with gynecological cancer who received chemotherapy increased the capacity of self-care and reduced the symptoms of fatigue, nausea, insomnia, changes in skin/nails, and numbness in the hands because of chemotherapy.