Purpose: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a nursing intervention program to promote cancer pain self-management for outpatients using a non-randomized controlled trial. Methods: An intervention group underwent 3 sessions of the intervention program. The primary outcome measured was pain intensity (Japanese brief pain inventory [BPI-J]), and the secondary outcomes included the influence of pain on daily life, the effectiveness of pain relief treatment (BPI-J), quality of life (12-item short-form health survey [SF-12]), self-efficacy (pain self-efficacy questionnaire [PSEQ]), and psychological stability (hospital anxiety and depression scale [HADS]). Results: The data from 19 participants in the control and 16 in the intervention groups were analyzed. A comparison of changes in pain intensity before and after the study showed no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the SF-12 role physical, with a decrease in the control group and an increase in the intervention group ( P=0.020). Conclusion: The only significant difference in the amount of change was found in the SF-12 role physical, and the intervention effect of this program could not be clarified. The reason for this was that the number of subjects was less than the sample size.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe research trends and content of educational intervention for promoting self-management of patients with cancer pain. Methods: A literature search for papers published from January, 2000 to July, 2017 was conducted using the keywords “cancer pain” and “self-management” “self-care” on electronic databases MedLine, CINAHL, and Ichushi. Results: Three Japanese language papers and twenty-seven English language papers were used for analysis. Many papers had been made public since 2010, and several interventional studies using an educational intervention program have been published. An educational intervention program is a combination of a main session and a follow-up. Additionally, this method has several types of individual intervention. The main sessions included knowledge and skills required for medication, self-monitoring of pain, and the method of communicating with the doctor. The outcome of educational intervention was an increase knowledge of cancer pain and the reduction of the pain itself. Conclusion: Because there are few intervention studies about self-management of cancer pain, it is a task to develop the educational intervention program for patients with cancer pain according to the intervention method and educational contents which identified in this result in Japan.

On the nursing front, there is no limit to demands for care services. Although efforts are being made to train the staff, letters from former inpatients showed that they left the hospital with a lot of discontent. To have them leave the hospital pleasantly, we have started holding an interview with the inpatients just before they are discharged since 2000. To grasp the results of the interviews accomplished during the 2-years period after the implementation of this program, we carried out a survey by distributing questionnaires to the nursing staff. At the same time, we conducted a survey on expatients and analyzed what they actually told the interviewers. It was found that about 60% of the outgoing patients were interviewed.More than 89% of the ex-patients surveyed said that they could calm themselves after they realized the nurses understood what it is to be painful. Asked if they want the interview to be continued, 94% answered in the affirmative. Meanwhile, many nurses said that what the patients told them was encouraging and gave them an incentive to carry out their duty. Some said that they were given an opportunity to reflect on their past conduct. All in all, we found that the interviews had the healing effect on the nursing staff as well as the patients.
Interview ; nursing therapy ; Discharge from hospital ; Effective ; Surveys