Developing teaching materials to improve quality of life for patients who have undergone gastrectomy

2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 15592294
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Clinical nursing
• Research Institution: Prefectural University of Hiroshima (2005); Hiroshima Prefectual College of Health Sciences (2003-2004)
• Principal Investigator: AMIJIMA Hizuru Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Associate Professor, 保健福祉学部, 助教授 (90259432)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAMANAKA Michiyo Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Lecturer, 保健福祉学部, 講師 (60280187) ; SUGIMOTO Yoshie Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Associate Professor, 保健福祉学部, 助教授 (40280185) ; YOSHIDA Akira Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Professor, 保健福祉学部, 教授 (30136113) ; NISHIHARA Sadamitu Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Assistant Teacher, 保健福祉学部, 助手 (40290548)
• Project Period (FY): 2003 – 2005
• Keywords: Gastrectomy / Audiovisual materials / Internet / Homepage / Living guidance / Quality of Life / Discharge guidance

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate teaching materials for guidance for living to raise QOL (Quality of Life) for patients who have undergone gastrectomy. To clarify the problems that they had, fourteen patients who had undergone gastrectomy, were interviewed after informed consent was obtained. The data were analyzed using Content Analysis.
The data indicated that the patients had four types of problems : physical problems, dietary problems, psychological problems, and support problems. In more detail the problems, they indicated included : body weight does not increase, anemia, constipation and diarrhea, quantity of meal, meal time is short, anxious about a recurrence, lack of confidence about self-care, lack of support. These results suggest that important components of guidance for living should include information about post-operative physical problems and how to cope with them, dietary information, points to keep in mind about everyday life, information about medication, and encouragement to have regular health checks.
In order to teach this content effectively, we developed a leaflet, a booklet, and an Internet homepage. We carried out guidance for living for twenty patients who had undergone gastrectomy using the teaching materials which we developed, and conducted a questionnaire survey.
The results of the questionnaire survey showed that the teaching materials we developed were effective, particularly with regard to confidence about self-care and dietary management, and could be used more extensively to provide guidance for living and to raise QOL.