Evaluation of the Nurse-Led Symptom Management Program for Patients With Gynecologic Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy

BACKGROUND Patients with cancer experience symptoms concurrently. Nurses need to make multisymptom management and educate patients about self-management strategies. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a nurse-led symptom management program (NL-SMP), developed based on the Symptom Management Model, quality of life (QoL), and symptom severity of women with gynecological cancer undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS This randomized controlled study sample consisted of 41 women receiving chemotherapy at an outpatient clinic in Istanbul, Turkey, between November 2018 and December 2019. European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality-of-Life Scale, Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale, and Modified Brief Sexual Symptom Checklist-Women were used to collect data. Women were randomly assigned to 2 groups: intervention (n = 21) and control (n = 20). The intervention group attended the NL-SMP in addition to usual care. Data were collected at the first (time 1), third (time 2), and last chemotherapy cycle (time 3). Repeated measures analysis of variance, Cochran-Q, and t tests were used to analyze the data. RESULTS In the intervention group, the QoL was significantly higher; symptom severity was lower than that of the control group at time 2 and time 3. At time 3, more women in the control group reported at least 1 sexual difficulty and were not satisfied with their sexual function, whereas there was no change for women in the intervention group. CONCLUSION The NL-SMP, which consisted of systematic symptom assessment, prioritization of symptoms, providing symptom, and patient-specific education, decreased deterioration in the QoL and symptom severity of women. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Conducting multisymptom assessments, prioritizing symptoms, providing symptom- and patient-specific education, and supporting symptom self-management throughout treatment can lead to effective symptom management.