Pilot trial of a STOMA psychosocial intervention programme for colorectal cancer patients with stomas

To evaluate preliminary effects of a newly developed STOMA psychosocial intervention programme that was delivered via a multi-modal and multi-dimensional approach on the improvement of outcomes of colorectal cancer patients with stoma.

With a distorted body image and the loss of an essential body function, stoma patients face difficulties in everyday life in terms of physical, psychological, and social aspects. Few studies have explored effects of psychosocial interventions on improving stoma-related health outcomes.

This was a two-group pre-test-post-test pilot randomized controlled trial.

Fifty-three participants were recruited from July 2015-November 2016 in a tertiary public hospital in Singapore. They were randomized into either intervention group (N = 29) or control group (N = 24). Stoma care self-efficacy, acceptance of stoma, stoma proficiency, length of hospital stay, anxiety and depression and quality of life were measured. IBM SPSS 24.0 was used to analyse the data.

There was an improvement in acceptance of stoma in the intervention group (p < 0.05). Significant effects on stoma care self-efficacy, stoma proficiency, length of hospital stay, anxiety and depression level and quality of life were not shown.

This study developed a feasible and applicable psychosocial intervention programme and generated preliminary evidence in the positive outcomes of colorectal cancer patients with stoma. Future studies can explore technology-based interventions to provide a more sustainable support for patients with stoma.