Development and Evaluation of a Nursing Educational Program to Reduce Cancer Worry of Colorectal Cancer Patients' Family Members

Purpose: This study was to develop and evaluate the clinical utility of a nursing educational program to reduce the cancer worry of colorectal cancer patients’ family members (RCW-FM) in Korea. Methods: The RCW-FM was developed based on several preliminary studies: an ethnographic and two quantitative studies to understand the educational needs among Korean colorectal cancer patients and their families. A one week clinical genetic educational course for clinical cancer nurses was implemented, and the RCW-FM led by cancer genetic nurses was constructed. A one group pretest-posttest design was implicated to evaluate the change of the family members’ knowledge about colorectal cancer (KCR) and the level of the reduction of cancer worry (CWR). Results: The mean score for KCR significantly increased from 11.75±1.28 to 13.87±1.13 (p＜.05). The mean score of CWR was 4.25±.89. Conclusion: This new RCW-FM is a satisfactory educational program for reducing the cancer worry of the colorectal patients’ family members. But it needs to provide more practical, specific information including a long term perspective, tailored specifically for what Korean families want to know. It should also incorporate the preventive guidelines recommended for high risk hereditary or familial colorectal cancer.