The Effect on Nausea and Vomiting of Structured Education Given to Male Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect on nausea and vomiting of structured education given to male lung cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. This quasi-experimental research study had pre- and post-tests control groups. The estimated sample size was at least 20 subjects per group. Data were collected in the chest diseases clinic and outpatient chemotherapy unit of a university hospital in Turkey. An education booklet and structured education were given 30 mins for each patient before chemotherapy. In post-test 1, nausea severity was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (mean difference - 2.50, 95% CI - 1.46 to - 0.17, d = 0.82, p = 0.05). This was also the case in post-test 2 (mean difference - 2.10, 95% CI - 1.50 to - 0.21, d = 0.85, p = 0.01). According to this, the sizes of Cohen's d effect were large (0.82 and 0.85 for post-test 1 and post-test 2 respectively). However, vomiting frequency did not differ significantly between the experimental group and the control group in either post-test 1 or post-test 2 (p > 0.05). Structured education given by nurses had a positive effect on the severity of nausea. Nurses may be able to raise nausea management in cancer patients to a better level by education intervention.