A Study on the Effect of Comprehensive Intervention Based on Transition Theory on the Readiness for Discharge of Post-Operative Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the effect of comprehensive intervention based on transition theory in enhancing the readiness for discharge of post-operative breast cancer patients. Method: In a non-simultaneous controlled study test, 99 post-operative breast cancer patients hospitalized between August 2019 and February 2020 were selected as the control group and 93 post-operative breast cancer patients hospitalized between March and August 2020 were selected as the test group at a Grade A tertiary tumor hospital. While the control group used the conventional care model, the test group added a comprehensive intervention based on transition theory to the routine nursing, which focused on stimulating patients’ awareness of health transitions, assisting patients to identify health critical events, strengthening social support and promoting self-management. The differences between the two groups were compared in terms of patient readiness for discharge and patient evaluation of the quality of discharge teaching. Result: The total score of readiness for discharge was higher in the test group than in the control group (171.7 ± 24.5 vs. 155.9 ± 28.9) and the scores for “Self-condition” (55.6 ± 8.2 vs. 50.8 ± 9.7), “Disease Knowledge” (64.7 ± 13.1 vs. 57.7 ± 13.8), “Coping Ability after Discharge” (24.6 ± 4.8 vs. 22.2 ± 5.6), “Expected Social Support after Discharge” (26.8 ± 4.5 vs. 25.2 ± 4.8) were higher than those of the control group, and all differences were statistically significant “Content that Patients Actually Acquired before Discharge” (51.2 ± 9.2 vs. 48.3 ± 11.3) and “Guiding Skills and Effects of Discharge for Nurses” (110.9 ± 12.6 vs. 104.3 ± 19.00) were also higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Comprehensive intervention based on transition theory for post-operative breast cancer patients is beneficial to improve the quality of discharge nursing guidance, thereby improving the readiness for discharge of patients and enhancing the sense of control and identity of patients after discharge.