The effect of game-based education given to ostomates and their caregiver relatives on patient outcomes

This study was conducted to determine the effect of game-based education given to ostomates and their primary caregivers using Stoma Training Set (STS) on patient outcomes (early stomal and peristomal, frequency of hospital re-admission, fear of touching the stoma and perception of social support). The randomized controlled planned research was carried out with individuals undergoing stoma surgery and their primary caregivers at Koç University Hospital between February 2020 – December 2020. The number of samples (experiment= 22, control= 22) was determined by power analysis. Volunteers who suitable the research criteria and accepted the research were assigned to the control and experimental groups, respectively. The data were collected using the information and follow-up form for ostomates, the information form for the relatives of ostomates and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Statistical analyses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney-U, Chi-Square, Wilcoxon tests in SPSS-26 (IBM). As a result of analyses, it was determined that there was no difference between the sociodemographic characteristics of all the individuals in the experimental and control group who participated in the study (p>0,05). It was determined that early stomal and peristomal complications developed statistically less in ostomates in the experimental group than in the control group (p <0.05), and there was a significant difference in favor of the experimental group after the training between ostomates and primary caregivers before and after training (p <0.05), there is a significant difference (p <0.05) between the ostomates and primary caregivers' fear of touching the stoma before and after the training in both the experimental and control groups. In summary, because of the game-based education using the STS, it was found that there was a positive improvement in patient outcomes compared to classical education. Based on these results, it is recommended to conduct research with large samples in order to use game-based education in routine practice and to examine some parameters in detail.