Like all other types of cancer, breast cancer (BC) is perceived as a life-threatening disease; it remains as a most frightening disease for women despite the important developments in its treatment. Moreover, BC is perceived as a disease that threatens both life and womanhood, includes physical, psychological, sexual and working-life problems, has recovery and exacerbation periods, and causes short-and long-period adjustment disorders (1, 2). According to the 2018 report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, BC is ranked as the second most frequent cancer (11.6%) in the world. (3) According to the 2015 data of Ministry of Health in Turkey, BC is ranked first among the first 10 types of cancer seen in women and its incidence is 52.5 in one hundred thousand (4). While the incidence of breast cancer is increasing in both our country and the world, knowing what breast cancer means for patients may be beneficial for reducing the mortality and morbidity of the disease. Illness is subjective; each person experiences it differently. Therefore, individual responses to illness are also different (5). The responses attributed to illness, beliefs about its course and duration, its perceived consequences, and special beliefs about it all affect the treatment and controllability of disease (6). How the experience of cancer is defined and perceived plays a crucial role in adjusting both to the disease and its treatment (7). Therefore, attention has been increasingly directed on the meaning attributed by patients to their cancer. Studies show that how the patients with BC perceive their illness is an important factor that determines adjustment to disease, the general distress level, psychosocial distress experienced by patients, and coping with stress (1, 8-10).
In this study, it was aimed to determine how the postoperative pain level, state-trait anxiety level, and respiratory function were affected by the health education given through a patient education booklet to patients with lung cancer, in comparison with control group, before pulmonary resection through thoracotomy. The 60 patients (n = 60) having pulmonary resection indication because of lung cancer were recruited in the present study. The patients were separated as control (n = 30) and experimental groups (n = 30). The patient education was applied to patients in the experimental groups via the education booklet 24 h before the surgery. Patients in the control groups received only usual clinical nursing information. The pain was evaluated via visual analog scale (VAS). The State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAS) was used for evaluating the anxiety level. The evaluated pulmonary functions were peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), and forced expiratory flow 25-75 (FEF25-75). The pain level of the experimental group was statistically lower than control group (p < 0.05). The state anxiety level of experimental group received education was statistically lower than control group (p < 0.05). There was no any statistical difference in trait anxiety levels between control and experimental groups (p > 0.05). The FEV1 and FEF25-75 values in experimental group were statistically higher than control group. A planned health education applied via the thoracotomy patient education booklet has a positive effect on clinical recovery process by affecting postoperative pain, state anxiety, and FEV1 and FEF25-75 values.
Background: This research evaluated the effectiveness of an online education model in teaching breast selfexamination to university staff and students. Materials and Methods: 1,679 women participated in a breast self-examination online training program. Breast self-examination knowledge evaluation forms developed by Maurer (1997) were used in the research and were evaluated on a 100 point scale. Paired t-test and McNemar's Test statistics were employed. Results: The participants scored an average of 46.5 (14.0%) on knowledge on breast self-examination before training, but 77.4 (11.0%) one month after education and 76.7 (9.52%) after six months. There was a clear significant difference between these knowledge levels (p<0.05). Similarly, while the rate for systematic practice of breast self-examination among women was 30.8% before training it increased to 47.8% afterwards. Again the difference was significant (p<0.05). Conclusions: Online education is an effective method for teaching breast self-examination to women.
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