The effect of breathing exercises on nausea-vomiting and functional condition in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy

This study was conducted to determine the effect of breathing exercise on chemotherapy-induced nausea-vomiting and functional condition in patients with breast cancer. The patients were divided into experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups in a randomized and controlled way. The data were collected using patient information form, Functional Life Scale-Cancer (FLS-C), Visual Analog Scale, and a form including the numbers of nausea-vomiting-gagging and hours of breathing exercises. The patients were followed up for seven days. Breathing exercise were performed to the experimental group for six days. On the seventh day, FLS-C was repeated for all patients. In the study, it was determined that the experimental group experienced significantly lower levels of nausea severity after the breathing exercise on the days except for the first day, compared to the control group (p<0.05). Also, the experimental group had fewer numbers of nausea, vomiting and gagging after the exercises, compared to the control group (p<0.05). In the pretest and posttest measurements of the breathing exercise, it was determined that there was an increase in the total score and subscales of FLS-C except for the subscale of general well-being in the experimental group. While 4 there was a distinct decrease in total score of FLS-C and the subscales of physical functions and GIS functions in the control group, there was no change in the other subscales and the change was significantly different in both groups (p<0.05). Consequently, it was observed that breathing exercise reduced chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting, and gagging and affected their functional condition positively. Keywords: Chemotherapy, Nausea-Vomiting, Breast Cancer, Breathing Exercise, Functional Condition