Publication:

A comparative study of nurses' knowledge and attitude towards impact of oral cancer on oral hygiene and nutritional status of patients with oral cancer in selected general and cancer hospital at Mysore and Bangalore with a view to develop self-instructional module

Background Cancer is burden for almost all societies in the world. It is estimated that approximately 20 million persons are suffering with cancer and every year 10 million die due to cancer.

Methods A descriptive and comparative survey from January 2024 to June 2024 with a quantitative research approach was used. The non-probability convenient sampling technique was used, and 60 nurses (30 each from Cancer Hospital; and General Hospital) had given consent for participation in the study. The tools used for data collection were personal profile, structured knowledge questionnaire, modified Likert-type attitude scale, and opinionnaire for utility of SIM.

Results The study found that 83.35% of General Hospital and Cancer Hospital nurses had strong knowledge, while 10% and 6.66% had low knowledge. All nurses from both institutions have mildly positive to extremely positive thoughts about how oral cancer affects oral hygiene and nutrition. Mean knowledge scores of nurses from General and Cancer hospitals were 14.73 and 16.33, and mean attitude scores were 149.80 and 150.20. Cancer hospital nurses' expertise and attitude correlated significantly. The results show that 86.67% of nurses believe SIM is a valuable source of information and content to assist them better manage oral cancer patients' oral hygiene and nutrition.

Conclusions The study found that cancer hospital nurses had a higher mean knowledge score than general hospital nurses. Thus, knowledge and attitude are linked, and nurses with higher knowledge have a more positive attitude.