Effect of Instructional Guidelines on Women Awareness Regarding Nutrition after Breast Cancer Surgery

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer in Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Fayoum University

2 Medical-Surgical Nursing, Nursing College, Badr University in Cairo

3 Assistant Professor of Hospital and Nursing Management, Military Medical Academy

4 Lecturer in Critical Care Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Aim Shams University

5 Lecturer in Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Mansoura University

Abstract

Understand the women with cancer about knowledge and practices regarding their nutrition are very
important to maintain healthy body weight and eat nutritious foods. Hence, the study was aimed to
evaluate the effect of instructional guidelines on women's awareness regarding nutrition after breast
cancer surgery. Subjects and method: Design: A quasi-experimental research design was used
with a pre-and post-test. Setting: the research was conducted at the inpatient and outpatient clinic
of Fayoum Oncology Center. Subjects: A purposive sample of 130 women was included. Three
tools were used: Tool (I) women' structured interviewing questionnaire, it included two parts: (a)
demographic characteristics; (b) women' medical data, Tool (II) women' knowledge regarding
nutrition sheet, and Tool (III) women' practice regarding nutrition sheet (pre/post). Results: More
than half of women were having a family history of cancer. The majority of women reported that
the main source of information regarding nutritional knowledge after breast cancer surgery was
doctors. There was a positive correlation (P=0.005) between women's knowledge scores and their
practice post-one-month nutritional instructional guidelines implementation. There were marked
improvements in women's knowledge and practices regarding nutrition after breast cancer surgery
post instructional guidelines implementation (P=0.005). Conclusion: The instructional guidelines
implementation regarding nutrition had a positive effect on improving women's knowledge and
practices after breast cancer surgery. Recommendations: The instructional guidelines should be
conducted regularly for women after breast cancer surgery to discuss and teach them different
aspects about nutrition and replication of the current study with a larger sample

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