The impact of stoma management education on the self-care abilities of individuals with an intestinal stoma

Abstract

An intestinal stoma is a surgically formed exteriorisation of the large or small bowel on to the anterior abdomen wall, to enable faeces to be excreted from the body. Patients living with a stoma may encounter physical, psychological, and social barriers and challenges. Stoma self-management education is essential to improving self-care competence, and patients who perceive the benefits of self-management education show a better adjustment to living with a stoma. This literature review explored the effectiveness of patient education interventions in improving the self-care knowledge and skills of patients living with an ostomy. The findings from the nine studies reviewed showed that self-management education approaches are effective in improving patients' self-care. The application of different approaches to ostomy self-management education, such as a transtheoretical model, chronic care model, telehealth and multimedia-based programmes – helped improve patients' self-care ability. The review also found that patients needed at least 3 months to develop the skills and maintain their ability to self-care. In addition, two education sessions provided to patients in hospital pre-discharge appeared sufficient for improving and maintaining self-care abilities. Where patients received education in hospital post-surgery, 2 or 3 sessions over 7 days were found to be sufficient to provide them with stoma care skills. Education sessions based on the transtheoretical model and chronic care model or telehealth helped maintain and reinforce self-care behaviours following discharge.

Effects of a perioperative educational pathway on ostomy self‐care, level of independence and need for visiting nurse services: a comparative observational cohort study

“…Many patients are not able to manage their ostomy themselves, mostly due to a lack of education on ostomy self-care [3,5]. This often results in the need for ostomy care by visiting nurse services [6,7].Educational plans have been proven effective to improve knowledge and self-care and, based on two systematic reviews, seem to be applicable to ostomy patients as well and result in improved quality of life [8][9][10]. It has been reported that only a few educational sessions during admission would be sufficient to provide patients with ostomy care skills [10].…”

“…This often results in the need for ostomy care by visiting nurse services [6,7].Educational plans have been proven effective to improve knowledge and self-care and, based on two systematic reviews, seem to be applicable to ostomy patients as well and result in improved quality of life [8][9][10]. It has been reported that only a few educational sessions during admission would be sufficient to provide patients with ostomy care skills [10]. This was also observed in a recent study by van Loon et al [11], which described that a 4-day in-hospital…”

“…Educational plans have been proven effective to improve knowledge and self-care and, based on two systematic reviews, seem to be applicable to ostomy patients as well and result in improved quality of life [8][9][10]. It has been reported that only a few educational sessions during admission would be sufficient to provide patients with ostomy care skills [10]. This was also observed in a recent study by van Loon et al [11], which described that a 4-day in-hospital…”