Information needs of patients with meningiomas.

The aim of this descriptive, cross-sectional study was to determine information requirements of patients with typical meningiomas after surgery. The study sample consisted of 20 patients who underwent surgery for brain tumours in neurosurgery clinics of a university hospital. Permission to conduct research was obtained from all patients and from the hospital. Before the surgery, a booklet was given to patients for training. Patients were followed up one, three, six and 12 months later by the phone after the surgery and asked to report their problems. All questions were recorded and answered. Data were collected by the socio-demographic, patient symptom and health status questionnaire. Descriptive data were analyzed using percentage and arithmetic averages. Comparative statistics were evaluated using chi-square. Patients wanted information about diet, physical therapy and rehabilitation, quick thinking difficulties, fasting, headache, irritability, personality change, fatigue, driving, deep vein thrombosis during the follow up. There was a significant difference between their health status and fear of seizures and recurrent tumor, forgetfulness, lack of concentration (p < 0.05). Although they received health education and booklet, patients needed more information during the 12 months after surgery. Therefore it suggested that monitoring the patient's needs is necessary.

The quality and suitability of written educational materials for patients*.

AIM: In this study, the quality and suitability of written educational materials being used for the education of patients in surgical departments of hospitals were studied. BACKGROUND: In the literature, it is stated that most of the educational materials for patients are not suitable from the aspects of contents, structure, design, composition and language. METHOD: In this descriptive type study, which was carried out between March and May 2006, 59 examples of written educational material used for patient education at 138 surgical clinics were evaluated for quality and suitability. The written educational materials obtained were evaluated independently by researchers from the aspect of quality and suitability. The DISCERN measuring instrument was used in the evaluation of the reliability of the written educational materials and the Evaluation of the Suitability of Written Materials form was used in the evaluation of suitability. RESULTS: It was determined that the educational materials received low scores for reliability and information quality. It was determined that the total scores for the written educational materials were average for suitability. CONCLUSION: It was determined that there were no written educational materials in more than half of the surgical units included in the study. It was also found that the educational materials had serious deficiencies. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study showed that there was no adequate written patient educational material at the clinics. This deficiency in written educational materials could be eliminated by having them prepared by health professionals in accordance with guidebooks and taking the target group into account.