The effect of telephone triage on symptom management in patients with cancer undergoing systemic chemotherapy: A randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: Patients with cancer experience chemotherapy-related symptoms in the home after treatment in the hospital. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the telephone triage on symptom management, quality of life, and self-care management in patients with cancer undergoing treatment of systemic chemotherapy. METHODS: The study was conducted as a single-blind randomized controlled trial. The sample consisted of 65 patients who were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. A telephone symptom triage protocol (TeleTRIAGE) was applied to the patients in the intervention group during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cycles of chemotherapy treatment. The control group received standard nursing care. Pretest and posttest data were collected using a Personal Information Form, the Chemotherapy Symptom Assessment Scale, the FACT-G Quality of Life Scale and the Self-Care Agency Scale. RESULTS: Compared to the control group, the patients in the intervention group showed a decrease in appetite change, symptom severity, and the degree of discomfort in feeling pessimistic and sad (p < 0.05), and their mean quality of life and self-care management scores increased (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It was found that the TeleTRIAGE protocol applied to patients with cancer undergoing treatment of systemic chemotherapy improved symptom management, quality of life and self-care management. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov, NCT04162717.

The West Haven Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory: Reliability and validity of the Turkish version in individuals with cancer.

PURPOSE: Pain is a complex, multidimensional and subjective phenomenon that is common in patients with cancer. The translation of existing pain measurement scales is considered important in producing internationally comparable measures for evidence based practice. In measuring the pain experience, the WHYMPI is a widely used instrument to measure assessment of clinical pain, and it has not been validated in Turkey. The present study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the West Haven Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI). METHOD: In this methodological study, the scale was translated into simplified Turkish by the cross-culture translation method, and 520 participants with cancer were assessed. The internal consistency, item analysis, and test-retest methods were used to determine the reliability of the Turkish WHYMPI. Content validity, criterion validity, convergent/divergent validity, and exploratory factor analysis were used to test the construct validity of the Turkish WHYMPI. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations results suggested that there was good internal reliability. The Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency of the pain experience, responses by significant others, and daily activities were 0.85, 0.60, and 0.83, respectively. The internal consistency coefficient for test-retest reliability of the pain experience, responses by significant others, and daily activities were acceptable: 0.82, 0.66, and 0.81, respectively. Factor loadings were significant, with standardised loadings ranging from 0.40 to 0.92. CONCLUSIONS: WHYMPI is reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of pain in patients with cancer in Turkey. Its use is recommended for clinical and research purposes.