[The Effects of Supportive Caring on Symptoms Distress, Nursing Needs, and Depression in Patients With Brain Tumor After Surgery: A Preliminary Study].

Background: Brain tumors are mainly treated with surgery. However, patients still experience many symptoms and nursing needs due to disease and treatment-related factors that, if not improved in a timely manner, may result in depression.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of supportive caring on symptom distress, nursing needs, and depressive symptoms in patients with brain tumor after surgery.

Methods: This study adopted a two-group, pre- and post-test experimental design. The enrolled participants were randomized into two groups. Those in the experimental group received a phone-based supportive caring intervention twice at 1 and 3 months after surgery. Those in the control group received usual discharge care. The measurement outcomes included a supportive care needs survey, symptom distress scales, and the center for epidemiological studies of depression. Baseline data was collected prior to hospital discharge (T0), with follow-up data collected at one month (T1), three months (T2), and six months (T3) after surgery.

Results: The results of the generalized estimating equation analysis showed that nursing needs in the experimental group at T1 (β = -23.61, p < .001), T2 (β = -22.51, p < .001), and T3 (β = -22.26, p < .001) were significant lower than in the control group. Also, symptom distress in the experimental group at T1 (β = -7.03, p = .019) and T2 (β = -8.39, p = .003) was significantly lower than in the control group. However, depressive symptoms in the experimental group were lower than in the control group only at T2 (β = -8.55, p = .005).

Conclusions: The results of this study confirm that supportive care helps improve nursing needs, symptoms distress, and depressive symptoms in patients with brain tumor after surgery. Medical team members should pay attention to these issues following surgery.