Linda Elsik

Publication Date

1985

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Frank-Stromborg, Marilyn

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

School of Nursing

LCSH

Chemotherapy--Psychological aspects; Breast--Cancer--Psychological aspects; Patient education--Psychological aspects

Abstract

The term "chemotherapy" can provoke anxiety in people. It is only one ot a number ot anxieties that a woman with Stage II breast cancer must race. Within a period of three to four weeks, she has been told she has cancer, she has had a body image alteration due to the mastectomy and she is then told that she must be on a six to twelve month course of chemotherapy to eliminate any hidden cancer cells that may linger in her body. It is an overwhelming time in her life. To insure safe treatment, an adequate knowledge base is needed by the patient. Teaching ot patients is often done in a routine manner without input from the learner as to knowledge acquisition preferences. Principles of Knowles' theory of adult education suggest alternative methods and have been used as a theoretical base tor the study. This was a pilot study using a convenience sample of sixteen women satisfying established criteria. The participants were randomized into one of two groups on the first day of their chemotherapy treatment. Women in group I were instructed on five topics, in an order determined by the researcher. Women in group II were given those five topics and were asked to rank them in the order in which they wanted to learn. The teaching plan was then arranged and delivered in that order. One month after teaching, patients were given a Chemotherapy Knowledge Retention Test (CKRT) to evaluate the information they retained. The two groups were similar in demographic characteristics. The means of the CKRT results of each group were calculated. Group II's mean was 78.03, while that of group I was 77.50. The mean difference was 0.53. A t-test was performed and yielded a value of .064, indicating that there was no significant difference between the means of the two groups.

Comments

Bibliography: pages 48-54.

Extent

vii, 84 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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