Effects of Combination of Self-care Promoting Program and Oral Ginger Capsule on Self-care Ability and Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting in Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of self-care promoting program, combined with oral ginger capsule, on self-care ability and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in individuals with breast cancer. Sample were 40 breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Twenty patients in the experiment group were provided with a self-care promoting program along with ginger capsule supplementation, and 20 patients in the control group received usual care. Instruments for data collection were personal, disease- and treatment-related information, the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Nausea and Vomiting Scale and Self-Care Ability Scale, which the content validity index was 1.0. Data collection was carried out over two consecutive cycles of chemotherapy from February to November 2022. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, independent t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test.

The results indicated an increase in the self-care ability score among participants in the experiment group as compared to the control group (p<.001). Additionally, during the two consecutive chemotherapy cycles, the experiment group exhibited a reduced incidence rate and milder severity of nausea on the second to forth day following chemotherapy when compared to the control group (p<.05). However, there was no distinction observed in the vomiting occurrence rate and the frequency of vomiting on each day following chemotherapy between the experiment and control group (p>.05). In conclusion, the utilization of a self-care promoting program combined with oral ginger capsule demonstrated the capacity to augment self-care abilities and alleviate chemotherapy-induced nausea in breast cancer patients.