Oncology nursing staff knowledge and practice behaviors toward chemotherapy impact on peripheral neuropathy : a study from north of Iraq

Abstract EN

Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is still one of the most significant and difficult symptoms that oncology nurses face when caring for patients undergoing neurotoxic chemotherapy.

The purpose of this research was to assess the nurses' knowledge and practice behaviors toward chemotherapy impact on peripheral neuropathy, as well as find the correlation between nurse’s knowledge, practice behaviors regarding CIPN with socio-demographical characteristics.

Methodology: A descriptive, non-probability (purposive sample) was conducted on nursing staff (194) working in four oncology centers in four governorates in the North of Iraq for the period from 15th January 2021 to 20th May 2021 To collect the data, an assessment questionnaire was created.

The data were prepared, organized and entered into the computer file; Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) (23 version) At (P.

value 0.05), was employed for data analysis.

The descriptive data analysis (frequencies, percentages, X2, and spearman's correlation) is included in the data.

Results: The results revealed that (31.4 percent) of the sample was between the ages of (25-29 years) and that (52.1 percent) of the sample was male.

The nursing staff's knowledge and practice habits were both modest.

No statistical significance was found between nurses’ knowledge and demographic characteristics except for years of experience at P≤0.05as well as for the practice, with the exception of marital status and cancer patient care training course, at P≤0.05.

Conclusion and Recommendation: Despite the nurses' moderate knowledge and practice behaviors, a substantial positive connection was discovered between knowledge and practice level of nursing staff regarding chemotherapy influence on peripheral neuropathy.

Giving oncology nurses confidence as well as giving pamphlets that are easily accessible on how to assess and care for patients undergoing chemotherapy for peripheral neuropathy