ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effect of nurse-led follow-up on medication adherence and quality of life for breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant hormonal therapy.Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 157 patients in the intervention group and 154 in the control group.A self-design web-database medication monitoring platform was designed for managing patients such as texting,reminding and mailing.Participants were randomized to follow-up care as usual(yearly outpatient clinic visits) or nurse-led telephone follow-up(monthly consultation with structured intervention).Telephone follow-up was performed by four trained breast care nurses (BCN) and consisted of a semi-structured interview including managing the side-effects of endocrine therapy,compliance with hormonal therapy and an open discussion of these issues.Patients' medication adherence and quality of life were evaluated by Morisky Medication Adherence Questionnaire(MAQ) and FACT-B at baseline and 3,6 18 and 24 months,respectively.Results The Nurse-led telephone follow-up did not significantly improve the quality of life(P＞0.05).MAQ score in the intervention group was significantly greater than that in the control group(P＜0.05) at 3,6,18 and 24 months.Conclusion Nurse-led follow-up using computer-based monitoring system can improve patients' medication adherence,but there is no obvious increase in quality of life.