Effects of Husband’s Education on Meting Supportive Care Needs of Breast Cancer Patients: A Clinical Trial.

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Most of breast cancer patients have many supportive care needs during their illness and education may reduce theses needs in these patients. Until now، there is no any related studies investigated the effects of education for husbands of breast cancer patients. So، the aim of present study was to investigate the effects of husbands’ education on meeting supportive care needs of breast cancer patients. Methods: This study is pretest –posttest with control group. Charts of consecutive patients with diagnosed breast cancer attending the Breast Cancer Supportive Association were selected randomly to an educational intervention (n=27) and control group (n=28). Education intervention was conducted in 3 sessions. Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS -59) was filling out by all patients before educations intervention for experimental group and one month after it. The data was analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The intervention group reported fewer supportive care needs met at Time 2 than women in the control group (p<0.009). There were significant differences in psychological, physical and sexual domains between the two study groups (p<0.05). But there were not significant differences in informational needs, Patient care and support needs and no specific factor loading domains between two study groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Supportive care needs reduced in breast cancer patients after participation of their husbands in educational intervention. It is suggested that for reducing supportive care needs of breast cancer patients educational intervention to be held for their caregivers.