Godino, C., Jodar, L., Durán, A., Martínez, I., & Schiaffino, A. (2006). Nursing education as an intervention to decrease fatigue perception in oncology patients. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 10, 150–155.

The patient education intervention was delivered in three sessions and consisted of:  one-to-one education, training and counseling, and audio-visual computerized educational materials. In session one (first cycle of chemotherapy treatment), patients were introduced to the project and were given information about fatigue and how to manage it, as well as a diary to record their daily feelings related to fatigue. In session two (second cycle of chemotherapy treatment), the nurse and patient engaged in an open interview about treatment, side effects, and daily activities of the patient and discussed the diary notes. In session three (one month after the completion of treatment), the patient discussed with the nurse changes in fatigue perception throughout treatment using diary notes. A questionnaire was completed by both the intervention and control groups at sessions one and three. Only the intervention group completed the questionnaire at session two.

• Forty patients who were chemotherapy-naïve with colorectal or gastric cancer (experimental group:  n = 23, mean age = 58.5 years [range 32–74]; control group:  n = 17, mean age = 62.7 years [range 49–75]) were included.
• Patients were excluded if they had received previous cancer treatment; had presence of respiratory, cardiac, or hepatic dysfunction; had a learning disability; had central nervous system metastasis; and/or had received previous radiotherapy.

• Single site
• Comprehensive cancer center in Barcelona, Spain

Patients were undergoing the active treatment phase of care.

The study used an experimental, randomized, stratified design.

• Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment (FACT)
• Diary notes

Fatigue levels were lower for the intervention group after the second session in comparison to baseline and remained steady after one month posttreatment. Fatigue levels remained stable for the control group at baseline to one month posttreatment. These differences were not statistically significant.

• The study had a small sample size; therefore, it was underpowered.
• The observed difference may not be only due to the nursing intervention and can be attributed to outside factors, such as the response to medical treatment.
• The nursing intervention was slightly different according to needs of participants about fatigue, and the nurse was not always the same for all three sessions.