Relationships among Information Needs, Information Received, Self-Care Behaviors and Quality Of Life in Well-differentiated Thyroid Cancer Patients Treated with Radioactive Iodine at Radiotherapy Ward 5A Srinagarind Hospital, KhonKean University

Abstract

Background and Objective: Thyroid Cancer is a global public health problem. Well-differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common type of thyroid cancer that shows excellent prognosis. However, the perspective of patients toward this disease may lead to in adequate self-care that affects the quality of life of the patients. This study aims to understand patients’ information needs including their perspectives after receiving information that may lead to improved self-care behavior and quality of life. The results may help develop guidelines for providing advice to patients and their families for improvement of information needs, information received, self-care behaviors, and quality of life. This research aims to study relationship among information needs, information received, self-care behaviors and quality of life in well-differentiated thyroid cancer patients treated with radioactive iodine at radiotherapy ward 5A Srinagarind hospital, Khon Kean University.

Method: A random sample by purposive sampling of 159well-differentiatedthyroid cancer patients treated with radioactive iodine (¹³¹I) .Data collection include; 1) personal demographic questionnaire, 2) information needs and information received questionnaire, 3) self-care behavior questionnaire, and 4)Functional Assessment of Quality of Life-Thyroid Form (QOL-TV Thai version). Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation coefficient.

Result: The results reported high level of information needs and low level of information received. Most of the participants reported a moderate level of self-care behavior and had a bad level of quality of life. There was no statistically significant relationship of information receives with information needs, self-care behaviors with information receives, and quality of life. Significant relationship between information needs and self-care behaviors was found (r = -0.2156; p-value = 0.006)

Conclusion: This study indicated that the well-differentiated thyroid cancer patients at radiotherapy ward 5A Srinagarind hospital receiving inadequate information based on their needs. There is significant correlation between information needs leading to self-care behaviors and the quality of life. These results help us to understand patient’s information need and their perspective. These results may guide development of nursing care education programs that suitable for patients’ need, easy for patients received leading to appropriate self-care behaviors and good quality of life of well-differentiated thyroid cancer patients.