Abstract:
Colorectal cancer jeopardizes the health of older adults in many ways: physical, mental, emotional, social, economic and spiritual. This two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research aimed to examine the effect of nursing care based on Swansons theory of caring on the well-being of elderly with colorectal cancer receiving chemotherapy. The sample was 40 older adults, male and female, receiving in-patient care including chemotherapy, for diagnosed colorectal cancer. Simple random sampling was employed to assign older adults equally to control and experimental groups. The experimental group received Swansons caring for 9 weeks, with nursing care divided into three phases: pre-chemotherapy care, care during chemotherapy, and post-chemotherapy. Five activities were focused upon, based in Swansons work: 1) maintaining belief, 2) knowing, 3) being with, 4) doing for, and 5) enabling. The control group received usual nursing care. Data-collection tools were a personal interview, patient medical history, and a well-being assessment form for colorectal cancer patients, which had a reliability of .90. The data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, and independent t-tests. The results revealed that: 1) the experimental groups mean well-being score was significantly (P< .01), and 2) the experimental groups mean well-being post-test score was significantly (P< .05). Based on the findings, it is recommended that registered nurses apply Swansons caring to enhance the well-being of elderly with colorectal cancer who are receiving chemotherapy.