The effect of education provided to family members caring for colorectal cancer patients on caregiving reactions and healthy lifestyle behaviors: A prospective quasi-experimental study

The study was conducted as a pre-test-post-test, control group and quasi-experimental intervention research design in order to evaluate the effects of education applied to family members who provide care for patients with colorectal cancer on their healthy lifestyle behaviors and reactions towards caregiving. The study population consisted of 100 caregiver who provide primary care to patients with colorectal cancer. The study data were collected using the "Socio-Demographic Characteristics Data Collection Form", "Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II (HPLP-II)" and the "Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA)". The pre-test was applied to the experimental and control groups at the first interview. The preferred interview format was a booklet. Three times face to-face individual educational sessions were provided to the experimental group, accompanied by a education booklet. After the third educational session the post-test was applied to the caregivers in the experimental and control groups.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers who committed to providing care to their patients diagnosed with Stage II/III CRC and agreed to participate in the study, and who were suitable to respond to the forms in terms of cognitive and mental health were included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers whose patients had previously received chemotherapy for CRC or had colostomy in their patients and who had previously been education on the subject were excluded from the study