Designing and compiling oral health self-care education program for oral cancer patients

Orofacial outcome of oral cancer, and its management can effect on patients' quality of life. The aim of this study was to design and compile oral health self-care education program for oral cancer patients.

The research design was a qualitative and descriptive review study. Research articles and text books from international databases including: PubMed, Scopus, Springer, ISI web of science, and authenticated textbooks of oral medicine and maxillofacial surgery were used to find relevant topics by means of MeSH keywords such as "oral care”, "education program", “oral cancer”, “consideration”, “rehabilitation”, “self-management”, "self-care”, “complication”. Thereafter, English-language articles published from 2000 to 2021 were appraised. Self-care education program were analyzed by 30 experts in the fields of oral diseases, maxillofacial surgery, oncology, and radiotherapy. The content of the instructions in the areas of clarity and comprehensiveness, educational concept, patient awareness, implement ability and usability, and adequacy were evaluated quantitatively and from a score of 0 to 10.

Self-care education program were developed in these areas: mucositis, secondary infections, decay, pain and tooth sensitivity, halitosis, dry mouth, taste disturbance, bleeding, trismus, osteoradionecrosis, and nutritional instructions. The overall agreement of the experts in all areas was more than 9 points. In the areas of comprehensiveness and clarity of sentences and adequacy of coverage of instructions, there was the highest and lowest agreement, respectively (9.9 ±0.22), (9.3 ± 1.3).

According to the findings, this education program is recommended as a practical self-care guide for oral cancer patients.