Factors associated with self-care behaviors among hepatocellular carcinoma patients in a hospital in Bangkok

Abstract

Statistics of cancer around the world showed that liver cancer is one of the most common cancers and a common cause of death. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore factors associated with self-care behaviors among hepatocellular carcinoma patients in a hospital in Bangkok. The sample of this study included 177 patients diagnosed with non-invasive cancer accessing the services by appointment at Interventional Radiology in a hospital in Bangkok. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a research tool. The tool’s content validity and reliability were validated.  Questionnaires were used to collect data from individuals. This study focused on analyzing personal factors, perceived self-efficacy, social support, and self-care behaviors during treatment. Data were analyzed using statistics, including percentage, mean, standard deviation and analysis of the relationships using Chi-square test statistics Fisher’s Exact test and Pearson correlation coefficient.  The results showed that most of the sample had very appropriate self-care behaviors (63.40 percent). In addition, gender, age, educational level, occupation, income, marital status, duration of illness, and presence/absence of a family history of illness were associated with self-care behaviors. Overall self-efficacy was associated with self-care behaviors with a statistical significance level at p<0.01 (r = 0.276), and overall social support was associated with self-care behaviors with a statistical significance level at <0.01 (r = 0.207). Findings of this study suggests that self-efficacy among patients should be promoted through emotional support and providing information which could maintain patients’ self-efficacy.