The effects of continuous care utilizing rational emotive therapy on prostate cancer patients

Abstract

This study is to investigate the impact of rational emotive behaviour therapy in conjunction with continuity nursing on the negative emotions and quality of life of patients with radical prostatectomy (RPT). A total of 82 patients who underwent RPT for prostate cancer and were admitted to our department between November 2020 and October 2021 were randomly divided into two groups: the control group received conventional nursing interventions, while the observation group received rational emotion therapy combined with continuity of care interventions. The patients' negative emotions and quality of life in the two groups were compared. The Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-assessment Scale of Depression (SDS) scores of the observation group after nursing care were significantly lower than those of the control group (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the scores of the observation group in the dimensions of vitality (VT), physiological functioning (PF), general health (GH), affective functioning (RE), mental health (MH), and social functioning (SF) were higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Finally, the differences in both scores were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The combination of rational emotion therapy and continuity nursing has been demonstrated to have a positive effect on prostate cancer patients. It has been shown to effectively relieve patients' negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, and to improve the quality of survival. This approach is worthy of further promotion and application in clinical practice.