A Prospective Study to Assess the Effectiveness of an Educational Package on Home-Based Post-operative Care of Oral Cancer Patients by Primary Caregivers

This prospective study was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Surgical Oncology and Nursing. A total of 60 patients (30 patients in each group selected in consecutive fashion) were included based on assumption of α error and power of 5% and 90% respectively. A structured questionnaire for knowledge assessment of primary caregivers before and after intervention was used in the intervention group. The control group received routine care. The demographic profile, tumor location, and surgical intervention were comparable in both groups. At the initial assessment, 76.3% of patient’s caregivers did not have prior knowledge of post-operative care. With the specific educational intervention, 68% of the caregivers in the interventional group obtained poor (0–11) knowledge score which was improved to good score (19–25) in 73% of caregivers after the administration of the educational package but this improvement was not seen in the control group which received routine care. This study suggested that there is a need for specific educational package for the primary caregivers to improve their knowledge regarding home-based post-operative care of oral cancer patients that helps in the early recovery of the surgical patients.