Eating Behaviors of Postoperative Esophageal Cancer Patients During the First Year After Surgery

Abstract

Background The objective of this study was to identify the eating behaviors of patients from 3 months onwards after esophageal surgery. The study was conducted on patients who had been on an oral diet for more than 3 months after the surgery.

Methods Data were collected through interviews and analyzed by a qualitative inductive method based on the Grounded Theory Approach.

Results The results of the analysis revealed that postoperative esophageal cancer patients go through the following three stages in respect of their eating behavior during the first year after surgery: i) Get used to swallowing, ii) Learning how to cope with the symptoms occurring during eating, by failing and succeeding repeatedly, and iii) building self-management skills in terms of eating behaviors. These were identified as the process through which the patients develop their eating behaviors during the first year after surgery.

Conclusion The patients first faced the reality of the underlying issue, namely, difficulty in eating after the surgery, with the feeling that they experienced during swallowing in the process of eating. However, they had no choice but to accept the reality and make efforts to devise practical eating behaviors through experience. Then, eventually, they learned that self-management is necessary not only for maintaining a stable eating behavior, but also for sustaining their lives. In the long-term post-operative patient’s acquisition of new eating habits, medical staff look back and share their experiences so that they can recognize their altered body without being discouraged. However, it is necessary to continue to support them even after they discharge from the hospital by accepting difficulties in eating behavior.