Survivorship in Danish women surgically treated for gynecological cancer – The impact of postoperative rehabilitation
Abstract
Objective: As cancer treatments improve and the number of survivors increase, rehabilitation and survivorship issues have become an increasingly important aspect of cancer care. Presently there is little evidence describing how to address patients survivorship needs. On this ground a cancer rehabilitation program that matches the needs of women surgically treated for early stage gynecological malignancies and their relatives, was developed and tested.
Methods: The rehabilitation program was conducted by a multidisciplinary team and consisted of lectures, physical training and group support sessions. The program consisted of four three-hour sessions held weekly over four weeks. The program was evaluated by two questionnaires completed by the patients, the Short Form 36 and Sense of Coherence, pre and post intervention.
Results: Twenty-one courses were held with 371 participants: 217 patients (participation rate 35%) and 154 relatives. The patients’ age ranged between 22-85 years. Of these, 61% had been operated for localized stages of endometrial cancer, and 27% for local stages of cervical cancer. The questionnaires demonstrated an increase in all elements of the physical and mental health components during the study period. However, general health was the only component that surpassed the level recorded for healthy women.
Conclusions: The evaluation demonstrated that the patients experienced a positive personal outcome due to participation in the program. This finding was however not fully retrieved in the questionnaire results. Informal feedback revealed that the program provided clinicians with significant patient perspectives on survivorship issues in gynecological cancer care. Most patients completed their surgical treatment within a few days, and were considered clinically cured. To these patients and their relatives, the rehabilitation program represents a combined supportive self-care and specialized shared care intervention, which is feasible in combination with the pre-existing follow-up.
Methods: The rehabilitation program was conducted by a multidisciplinary team and consisted of lectures, physical training and group support sessions. The program consisted of four three-hour sessions held weekly over four weeks. The program was evaluated by two questionnaires completed by the patients, the Short Form 36 and Sense of Coherence, pre and post intervention.
Results: Twenty-one courses were held with 371 participants: 217 patients (participation rate 35%) and 154 relatives. The patients’ age ranged between 22-85 years. Of these, 61% had been operated for localized stages of endometrial cancer, and 27% for local stages of cervical cancer. The questionnaires demonstrated an increase in all elements of the physical and mental health components during the study period. However, general health was the only component that surpassed the level recorded for healthy women.
Conclusions: The evaluation demonstrated that the patients experienced a positive personal outcome due to participation in the program. This finding was however not fully retrieved in the questionnaire results. Informal feedback revealed that the program provided clinicians with significant patient perspectives on survivorship issues in gynecological cancer care. Most patients completed their surgical treatment within a few days, and were considered clinically cured. To these patients and their relatives, the rehabilitation program represents a combined supportive self-care and specialized shared care intervention, which is feasible in combination with the pre-existing follow-up.
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PDFDOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/cns.v4n4p66
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Clinical Nursing Studies
ISSN 2324-7940(Print) ISSN 2324-7959(Online)
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