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Wang, Rebecca; Yao, Christopher; Hung, Stanley; Meyers, Logan; Sutherland, Jason M.; Karimuddin, Ahmer; Campbell, Kristin; Conklin, Annalijn

BioMed Central

Objectives: The burden and costs of abdominal surgery for chronic conditions are on the rise, but could be reduced through self-management support. However, structured support to prepare for colorectal surgery is not routinely ofered to patients in Canada. This study aimed to describe experiences and explore preferences for multimodal prehabilitation among colorectal surgery patients. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study using three focus groups (FG) was held with 19 patients who had a surgical date for abdominal surgery (April 2017-April 2018) and lived close (≤50 km radius) to a tertiary hospital in Western Canada (including a Surgical Lead for the British Columbia Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Collaborative). FGs were audio-taped and verbatim transcribed with coding and pile-and-sort methods performed by two independent reviewers, confrmed by a third reviewer, in NVivo v9 software; followed by thematic analysis and narrative synthesis. Results: Four themes emerged: support, informed decision-making, personalization of care, and mental/emotional health, which patients felt was particularly important but rarely addressed. Patient preferences for prehabilitation programming emphasised regular support from a single professional source, simple health messages, convenient access, and fexibility. Conclusions: There is an unmet need for structured preoperative support to better prepare patients for colorectal surgery. Future multimodal prehabilitation should be fexible and presented with non-medical information so patients can make informed decisions about their preoperative care and surgical outcomes. Healthcare providers have an important role in encouraging healthy lifestyle changes before colorectal surgery, though clearer communication and accurate advice on self-care, particularly mental health, are needed for improving patient outcomes.

Article

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0418606

Medicine, Faculty of; Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of; Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Department of; Physical Therapy, Department of; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of

10.1186/s12913-022-08130-y

Faculty; Researcher; Other

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/