Effect of multidisciplinary collaborative empowerment education on psychological distress and quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy

Chunqin Liu; Weifeng Li; Tianchi Liu; Chunling Du; Qing Luo; Liqin Song; Xiaohua Liu; Ying Zhou

doi:10.1007/s00520-023-07573-1

Effect of multidisciplinary collaborative empowerment education on psychological distress and quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy

Support Care Cancer. 2023 Jan 16;31(2):116. doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-07573-1.

Authors

Chunqin Liu^{1

2}, Weifeng Li³, Tianchi Liu⁴, Chunling Du³, Qing Luo¹, Liqin Song¹, Xiaohua Liu⁵, Ying Zhou⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510182, Guangdong, China.
² School of Medicine, Jinggang Shan University, Jian, 343009, Jiangxi, China.
³ Oncology Department, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250021, Shandong, China.
⁴ Out-Patient Department, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250021, Shandong, China.
⁵ Out-Patient Department, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250021, Shandong, China. 2006liuxiaohua@sina.com.
⁶ School of Nursing, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510182, Guangdong, China. zhouying0610@163.com.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of multidisciplinary collaborative empowerment education on psychological distress and quality of life (QoL) in patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted using repeated measures at pre- and post-intervention in the fourth chemotherapy cycle. Sixty patients with colorectal cancer aged 36-84 years were allocated to the intervention and control groups. The intervention group received multidisciplinary empowerment education, while the control group received routine health education. Psychological distress involving depression and anxiety symptoms was assessed using The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and QoL was measured using The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTCQLQ-C30). Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to examine intervention effects. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software (version 26.0).

Results: Psychological distress was considerably lower and QoL was considerably better in patients following multidisciplinary empowerment education in the intervention group than those in the control group. In addition, psychological distress significantly decreased and QoL improved in the intervention group compared to baseline.

Conclusion: Multidisciplinary collaborative empowerment education was effective in improving the psychological distress and QoL among patients with colorectal cancer undergoing chemotherapy. These findings suggest that the establishment of multidisciplinary collaborative empowerment education might be considered as an innovative means of clinical patient education during combination chemotherapy to improve health outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer. However, our results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size. Further validation in a larger sample or randomized controlled design is necessary in the future.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Empowerment; Health education; Multidisciplinary; Psychological distress; Quality of life.

MeSH terms

Anxiety / psychology
Colorectal Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Educational Status
Humans
Psychological Distress*
Quality of Life / psychology

Abstract

MeSH terms

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