Therapy Options Received and Impact of Pharmacist-Led Interventions on Self-Care Management of Adverse Events among Cervical Cancer Patients in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

The available services for the treatment of premalignant and malignant cervical cancer (CC) lesions are grossly inadequate in Nigeria.Drug-oriented self-care education programmes are lacking in our healthcare facilities. Pharmacist interventions as an expert in drugtherapy management are needed. This study assessed the therapy options received and impact of pharmacist-led interventions onself-care management of AEs among CC patients in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, North-WesternNigeria. The study used a prospective longitudinal design with a 12-week patient follow-up. Instrument used was an intervieweradministered questionnaire, which was developed and pre-tested for reliability. Fifty-six eligible CC patients completed the pre- andpost-interventions survey conducted over a period of eight months (From October, 2019 to May, 2020). Data analysis was done withappropriate descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Paired sample t-test,Pearson’s Chi-square and Correlation) using SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA V. 20 for windows. P< 0.05 was considered statisticallysignificant. The mean age of the patients was 53.8±7.7years and 22(39.2%) have no formal education. Chemoradiation (CRT) andchemotherapy (CT) were the major therapy options received by the 25(44.6%) and 16 (28.6%) of the patients respectively. Before theinterventions, the patients scored 57.7±18.7% and 50.8±7.1% overall mean knowledge and practice scores respectively. After theinterventions, there was significant increase in the patients’ overall mean knowledge and practice, 17.6% and 6.7%, (p<0.05) scoresrespectively. There were significant association between patients’ age and total post-intervention knowledge (r=-0.614, p<0.001),and practice, (r=-0.424, p=0.001) scores. There were significant association between the patients’ level of education and total preand post-intervention knowledge (r=0.952, p<0.001 and