Abstract
This study aims to illuminate whether symptom recording using the 10-item "Anemia Assessment Tool", developed by researchers, is useful in the self-care of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. A total of 61 patients receiving chemotherapy as outpatients or over short-term hospital admission recorded their symptoms every day using a sheet that was created based on the Tool. Patients brought the sheets when making outpatient visits and received selfcare guidance from nurses. Qualitative analysis of data collected from interviews conducted after approximately four weeks yielded the following results. A total of 65.6% of subjects responded that recording enabled them to notice symptoms earlier, or prompted them to be more alert in day-today life. Changes that patients experienced as a result of recording symptoms were summarized into 10 categories, such as "I was able to connect the symptoms I experienced to a condition of anemia". A total of 68.9% of subjects answered that the records they kept were useful in communicating symptoms to medical staff, etc. The reasons for usefulness were summarized into 7 categories. Finally, 63.9% of subjects answered that they felt little burden from recording their symptoms. These findings indicate that symptom recording using the Anemia Assessment Tool developed by researchers is highly useful in the self-care of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
