Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Feb 27, 2025; 17(2): 100197
Published online Feb 27, 2025. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i2.100197
Feeding tube self-management experience of patients at home after discharge following esophageal cancer surgery
Guo-Li Miao, Qing-Jun You, Xiao-Yan Feng, Jiang-Hui Chu, Jin-You Li, Ping Cai
Guo-Li Miao, Qing-Jun You, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu Province, China
Xiao-Yan Feng, Department of Nursing, Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu Province, China
Jiang-Hui Chu, Jin-You Li, Ping Cai, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Guo-Li Miao and Qing-Jun You.
Co-corresponding authors: Xiao-Yan Feng and Ping Cai.
Author contributions: Miao GL contributed to the topic selection, design and article writing of this manuscript; Miao GL and Cai P participated in interview; You QJ and Chu JH were involved in the interview outline review; Cai P contributed to the review, and coding, research data collection and preservation; Chu JH and Li JY participated in the review and coding extraction; You QJ contributed to the quality control; Feng XY participated in the revision and review of the original manuscript. Miao GL and You QJ as the co-first authors of this article. The reason for the common is twofold: First, the two first authors were jointly involved in the data collection, organization. Second, the two first authors were jointly involved in writing and revising the paper, which played an important role in improving the overall quality of the manuscript. Cai P and Feng XY were designated as co-corresponding authors for three reasons: First, they were the mentors and instructors of the research team and played an important role in organizing and guiding the whole study; second, they also possessed rich nursing expertise, which provided professional disciplinary guidance for the study; and finally, they made the same contribution in reviewing and revising the paper. In summary, the co-corresponding authors of this study analyzed and discussed the study from various aspects to improve the overall quality of the study.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University (approval number: LS2023088).
Informed consent statement: All study subjects volunteered to participate in this study and signed an informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ping Cai, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, No. 1000 Hefeng Road, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu Province, China. 13861706586@163.com
Received: October 9, 2024
Revised: November 7, 2024
Accepted: December 17, 2024
Published online: February 27, 2025
Processing time: 105 Days and 1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Esophageal cancer (EC) is an aggressive malignancy with low survival (10%-30%). Nutritional problems are present throughout the perioperative period and are key to prognosis. Home enteral nutrition appears to improve the nutritional status of patients with EC. Few studies have addressed the experience of patients administering their own nutritional fluids and managing their own feeding tubes at home. The aim of this study was to explore the real-life experience of self-management of feeding tubes in patients at home after EC surgery in the first 3 months after discharge following surgery.

AIM

To explore feeding tube self-management experience of patients at home 3 months after discharge following EC surgery.

METHODS

Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 patients using a feeding tube at home after EC surgery. Thematic analysis of the recordings identified themes related to feeding tube self-management.

RESULTS

Patients expressed similar feelings about their tube management experiences concerning three contextualized themes: Self-management dilemmas, distressing experiences, and self-management facilitators.

CONCLUSION

There are many dilemmas and problems in self-managing feeding tubes in postoperative homebound patients with EC. Clinical staff should provide guidance to promote a positive change in self-management behavior.

Keywords: Esophageal cancer; Home care nursing; Feeding tubes; Self-management; Qualitative research

Core Tip: Good self-management behavior ensures the safety and effectiveness of the feeding tube. However, the experience of feeding tube self-management in homebound patients after esophageal cancer has rarely been explored. This study used a descriptive phenomenological research method to explore the experiences of 18 patients in self-managing their feeding tubes. It found that they experienced distress, fumbling, coping and adaptation, and identifying their specific expectations. This study can develop new interventions for this population and provide recommendations for negative experiences.