Prevention of Body Image Disorder by Nurse Intervention on the Patient and Family Prior to Breast and Colon Surgery
Phase: NA
Conditions: Body Image Disorder
Sponsor: Universidad Complutense de Madrid

 
 
 
COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID 
FACULTY OF NURSING, PHYSIOTHERAPY AND PODIATRY 
 
 
 
 
 
TITLE: 
CLINICAL TRIAL WITHOUT MEDICATION: 
PREVENTION OF BODY IMAGE DISORDER FOR NURSING 
INTERVENTION ON PATIENT AND FAMILY PRIOR TO MAMA 
AND COLON CANCER SURGERY 
 
MEMORY TO CHOOSE THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR 
PRESENTED BY 
 
Natalia Mudarra García 
 
Under the direction of the doctors 
 
Enrique Pacheco Del Cerro 
Alfonso Meneses Morroy 
 
Madrid, 2018 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PREVENTING THE DISORDER OF THE BODY IMAGE IN PATIENT AND 
FAMILY MEMBERSBY EFFECTIVE HEALTH EDUCATION (NURSING 
INTERVENTION) PRIOR TO A SURGICALPROCEDURE OF BREAST AND 
COLON CANCER. 
 
SUMMARY 
 
Cancer is one of the most important public health problems worldwide in the 21st 
century. The National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases emphasizes that cancer of 
prostate, colon-rectum, lung (in men) and breast and colon-rectum (in women) 
are among the most common neoplasms. 
One of the main   treatments   to be able to approach this   type   of   tumors, such 
as breast and colorectal, is surgery. There are different surgical procedures 
(surgery conservative, mastectomy, ostomy), which, forcefully, have an impact 
on body image of the individual, sometimes generating extreme and painful 
situations. These are procedures that lead to biopsychosocial implications and 
that generate a change in the modus of vivendi. 
A better psychological preparation and an effective health education such as 
nursing intervention of the patient prior to surgery (consisting of providing 
information about the intervention, giving psychological support in the entire 
surgical process and reporting on sensations that the patient will experience) will 
balance the characteristic stressful attribute of surgery and decrease the level of 
anxiety of the individual. 
For the patient to overcome this change in his corporal image, the role of his 
immediate family is fundamental. Not only because they help to improve the 
patient's quality of life during his illness, but also because an adequate emotional 
state of the patient can improve his therapeutic response. 
 
The aim of this study was to assess the body image disorder suffered by patients 
with breast and colon cancer after surgery. Likewise, the aim was to compare the 
group of patients and her family members who received an effective health 
education prior to oncological surgery with patients who did not receive it. 
 

A randomized, non-blinded, controlled clinical trial was conducted. The study 
consisted of performing a nursing intervention prior to breast and colon surgery 
to both groups, giving health education divided into four phases: providing 
information on the disease, showing surgeries and similar experiences, 
explaining coping methods and reporting on techniques of relaxing. 
 
Statistically significant differences were found between the results of these 
groups (p <0.001). The study group obtained a lower score on the scale of 
affectation of the corporal image than the control group. 
 
The most important conclusion is that the fact of performing a care procedure 
before oncological breast or colon surgery reduces the disorder of the body image 
in the patient. If this procedure is performed simultaneously on the patient and on 
an immediate family member, this reduction is even greater.