The Knowledge Level of Relatives of Cancer Patients About External Beam Radiotherapy

Creative Commons License

Karaca S., Koca T.

Türkiye Klinikleri Tip Bilimleri Dergisi, cilt.39, sa.4, ss.395-401, 2019 (Scopus) identifier

Özet

Objective: The aim of the study is to evaluate the knowledge level of relatives of cancer patients about external beam radiotherapy. Material and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in Radiotherapy Department of Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital. One hundred and thirteen patient relatives agreed to answer the questionnaire. A questionnaire containing demographic information and radiotherapy was prepared by the authors. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis and p<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Of the participants, 73 (64.6%) were male and 40 (35.4%) were female (n=113; mean age: 50.46±13.97). No significant correlation was found between answers of the relatives and gender, marital status, employment status, educational level and income level (p>0.05). At the beginning of the survey, 33.6% of the participants said that they did not have any information about radiotherapy and 65% of the remaining participants stated that they received information about radiotherapy from the doctors. Only 20% of the relatives knew the definition of radiotherapy correctly. Nearly half of the participants (46.7%) stated that patients emits radiation after external radiotherapy. 45.3% of the participants did not hear x-ray before. Most of the participants considered radiotherapy very effective (74.7%). The ratio of the participants who think that the patient suffered during radiotherapy were 21.3%. There was a statistically significant difference between some answers and patient age and educational status (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study show that general and technical knowledge of the patient relatives about external beam radiotherapy were limited.