This study aims to observe the effect of sequential psychological intervention combined with body position management on patients diagnosed with primary liver cancer undergoing hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). A cohort of 108 male patients diagnosed with primary hepatocellular carcinoma, undergoing HAIC at the Department of Oncology in our hospital between February 2022 and January 2024, were retrospectively selected. Patients admitted between February 2022 and January 2023 were included in the control group, while patients admitted between February 2023 and January 2024 were included in the observation group. The control group was treated with routine care, and the observation group received sequential psychological intervention combined with body position management. We compared their psychological status, perceived stress levels, incidence of adverse reactions, and overall comfort levels between the two groups before and after nursing interventions. After nursing interventions, the scores across all dimensions of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were lower in both the intervention and control groups compared to baseline, with the observation group demonstrating significantly lower scores in the perceived stress scale ((12.11 ± 3.20) points) compared to the control group ((17.12 ± 3.39) points) (p < 0.001). Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences observed in the incidence of adverse reactions and comfort between the two groups (p < 0.001). Sequential psychological intervention combined with body position management demonstrated superior nursing efficacy for male patients undergoing HAIC for primary liver cancer, effectively enhanced psychological well-being, mitigated perceived stress and reduced the occurrence of adverse reactions.