Abstract
The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the homecare needs of patients with cancer and to provide a basis of interventions. One hundred and two patients at one general hospital in Gyeongnam responded to a questionnaire developed on the basis of care needs perceived by nurses caring for hospitalized patients with cancer. The questionnaire was a Likert type 5 point scale with 56 items on five need categories ; 1) informational 2) physical care : 3) emotional care 4) socioeconomic care and 5) special care needs. Internal consistency of this questionnaire was Cronbach's $\alpha$＝.9101 for total items. The data was collected from March 1st to May 31th, 1998, by two graduate nurses. In the data analysis, mean & standard deviation were calculated to identify the degree of care need of each item, and the t-test & ANOVA were done to determine the effects of patients' demographic background on their care needs. The findings are summarized as follows ; 1) The mean score of total of need items was 3.048. Of the four need categories the highest score was informational at 3.4, followed by emotional care, 3.063, physical care, 2.623, and socioeconomic care, 2.599. 2) In the informational need category there were four subcategories with 19 items. Medication and pain control had the highest score, 3.755 ; second was diet and exercise, 3.613 ; third was disease and treatment process, 3.337 ; and last was personal hygiene and infection prevention at 2.687. 3) In the physical care need category there was nine items, IV infusion for nutrition and management of treatment complication was above 3.2 points and the remaining items were in the 2.847-2.070 score ranges. 4) In the emotional care need category there were seven items. The highest need was in support for relationships with health personnel, 3.673. The need for support of religions beliefs and support for having a religion were low at about 2 points. 5) In the socioeconomic care need category there were six items. Support for medical insurance expansion and financial support were above 3 points. Legal support and support for caring of children were low in the care needs. 6) In the special care need category the there were 15 items. Informational need about immunization and informational need about effects of disease on growth and development were high, above 4.1 points. Need for decubitus care and prevention, sitz bath and incontinence care were low, below 2 points. 7) There were significant differences in degree of care need according to admission rate, education level, marital status, religion and caregiver's religion. In conclusion, homecare needs perceived by hospitalized patient's with cancer was moderate, but informational need was higher than direct care need, leading to the conclusion that the provision of sufficient information to patients with cancer at discharge is needed. Nursing interventions should be developed considering the patient's background.
(Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Gyeongsang National University)
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