The Effect of Self-Care Program based on Orem's Theory on quality of Life of Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy in Military Personnel

Today, cancer is the third leading cause of human death and one of the main challenges faced by Iran’s health care system, which reduces the quality of life of patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of self-care program based on Orem theory on quality of life of cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy in military personal visiting selective in AJA Hospital. This study was conducted as a randomized clinical trial that involved 64 patients randomly assigned into experimental and control groups (each group, n = 32). Five educational- counseling sessions based on Orem self-care was conducted through individual instruction based on the needs of patients over a week. Before and after two months of implementation of program QLQ-C30 questionnaire were used in both groups. Data obtained before and after program were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Before intervention, statistically significant differences in quality of life scores in both groups didn’t exist. Independent t-test showed a significant difference between the two groups after the intervention (P<0.001). Paired t-test showed a significant difference in quality of life scores before and after the intervention in experimental groups (P<0.001). The overall effect size according to Cohen’s criteria table indicate the desirable effectiveness of the intervention.Discussion and Application of Orem based self-care programs built on the patient’s educational needs on quality of life in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy is probably effective.