Evaluating the Patients’ Knowledge Concerning Oral Side Effects of Head and Neck Radiotherapy

Almost 40% of cancer patients undergo the radiation therapy during their treatment. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of patients referring to Shahid Ramazanzade radiotherapy center concerning oral side effects of head and neck radiation therapy in 2014.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 180 patients who referred to Shahid Ramazanzade radiotherapy center, were selected by a simple random sampling method. The study data were gathered via a researcher-made questionnaire that its and reliability and validity have been confirmed. This questionnaire included 10 questions related to the patient’s knowledge with the maximum and minimume scores of “0” and “2” respectively. Scores of 0-6.99, 7-13.99, 14-20, respectively, demonstrated a poor, moderate and good levels of knowledge. The study data were analyzed using SPSS software (ver 17),  using ANOVA and T-test.

One hundred-eighty 21-88 years old patients with the mean age of 51.42±3.44 and age range of 21-88 attended in this study, of whome 110 (61.10%) were men and 70 (38.89%) were women. The knowledge mean score was 9.24±3.94  out of 20. Moreover, a significant statistical relationship was observed between the knowledge score of patients with their age (P=0.005) and education (P=0.0001), whereas no significant relationship was detected between the knowledge score and  gender of patients (P=0.502).

The findings of the present study revealed a moderate level of patients’ knowledge regarding the effects of radiotherapy on oral cavity. As a matter of fact, the knowledge level of patients was held to be lower in older patients, and patients with higher level of education gained a higher knowledge score.