FACTORS RELATED TO SYMPTOM EXPERIENCES AMONG PATIENTS WITH GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER HAVING CHEMOTHERAPY AFTER SURGERY

Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancer (GI cancer) patients were generally affected by cancer and treatment-induced symptom experience. This study aimed to examine the relationships between age, gender, cumulative dose, social support, and self-care behavior with symptom experiences among patients with GI cancer having chemotherapy after surgery. The theory of unpleasant symptoms (TOUS) guided this study. A simple random sampling technique was used to recruit 120 participants with GI cancer having chemotherapy after surgery. Research instruments consisted of a demographic questionnaire, the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Appraisal of Self-Care Agency Scale-Revised (ASAS-R) scale, each bearing a reliability coefficient of .78~.87, .94 and .88 respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, and Point-biserial correlation.

The results showed that for symptom experiences, the top five occurrence of symptoms were (1) numbness/tingling in hands/feet (81.7%), followed by (2) lack of energy (78.3%), (3) nausea (73.3%), (4) lack of appetite (71.7%), (5) change in the way food tastes (56.7%), they also cause much more frequency, severity, and distress than other symptoms. Point biserial correlation results indicated that gender had a moderate relationship with symptom frequency, severity, and distress (r = .41, .40, .42, p < .01, respectively) as well as the MSAS-PHYS, MSAS-PSYCH, and MSAS-GDI (r = .31, .44, .47, p < .01, respectively). Pearson’s product-moment correlation results showed that cumulative dose had a positive correlation with symptom frequency, severity, and distress (r = .44, .47, .48, p < .01, respectively) as well as the MSAS-PHYS, MSAS-PSYCH, and MSAS-GDI (r = .37, .43, .47, p < .01, respectively). Self-care behavior had a negative correlation with symptom frequency, severity, and distress (r = -.55, -.49, -.43, p < .01, respectively) as well as the MSAS-PHYS, MSAS-PSYCH, and MSAS-GDI (r = -.49, -.30, -.40, p < .01, respectively). Social support had a negative correlation with symptom frequency, severity, and distress (r = -.37, -.37, -.30, p < .01, respectively) as well as the MSAS-PHYS, MSAS-PSYCH, and MSAS-GDI (r = -.32, -.26, -.29, p < .01, respectively). However, age had no statistically correlations with symptom frequency, severity, and distress (r = .064, -.018, .012, p > .05, respectively) as well as those subscales (r = .076, -.059, .005, p > .05, respectively).

The findings in this study can be useful in developing appropriate nursing intervention to reduce the symptom experience by concerning on gender and cumulative dose of chemotherapy, moreover, improving self-care behavior and social support.

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