Effect of instructional guidelines regarding post-operative activity and mastectomy exercises on breast cancer women's knowledge

Abstract

Background: Women with breast cancer often are treated with some kind of surgery such as a mastectomy which affects moving the shoulder and arm or going about daily activities, like dressing, bathing, and combing hair. Pain and stiffness can cause weakness and limit movement of your arm and shoulder. Exercise can help get movement back. Aim: To investigate the effect of instructional guidelines regarding post-operative activity and mastectomy exercises on breast cancer women's knowledge. Design: A quasi-experimental design was used to accomplish this study (pre/post-test). Setting: The research will be carried out in the Oncology Inpatient and Outpatient clinic at Beni-Suef University Hospital, Egypt. Subject: The study subjects included a convenient sample of 100 women after mastectomy. Tools: Four tools were used Tool 1: Structured interviewing questionnaire: developed by the researchers to assess patient demographic, clinical data, and knowledge, Tool 2: Activities of Daily Living scales, Tool 3: The Pain Disability Index, and Tool 4: Observational checklist. Results: The results revealed that there was a positive significant correlation (P<0.001) between post-mastectomy women's knowledge scores pre and post-instructional guidelines implementation. There were highly significant improvements in post-mastectomy women's knowledge and post-operative activity and mastectomy exercises pre and post-instructional guidelines implementation (P<0.005).