A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Program Regarding Prevention And Management of Dumping Syndrome among Patients Following Gastric Surgery in Bangalore, India

Background: Dumping syndrome is a major post operative complication of gastric surgery. Dumping syndrome is a medical condition in which food from the stomach is rapidly emptied into the first part of the intestine i.e. the duodenum without proper digestion. This condition occurs due to the surgical removal of a part or all of the stomach. People with dumping syndrome experiences many symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramp, bloating because the small intestine is unable to absorb the nutrients from the food that has not been properly digested in the stomach.
Method: A quasi experimental study was conducted among 40 patients who have undergone gastric surgery. 20 patients were in experimental group and 20 patients were in the control group Purposive sampling technique was used to draw the sample. A structured questionnaire was developed with multiple choice questions which comprised questions related to demographic variables, knowledge on dumping syndrome and its prevention and management. Pretest and posttest data was collected by administering this structured questionnaire to the patients.
Result: In the study the overall pretests mean knowledge scores of Control Group was 54.3%, SD 8.8 and post test mean knowledge scores was 55.1%, SD 9.3 with enhancement of 0.7. The calculated -t value was 1.36 which was non significant at 0.05 level. The overall pretests mean knowledge scores of Experimental Group was 54.3%, SD 9.5 and post test mean knowledge scores was 78.4%, SD 6.7 with enhancement of 24.1. The calculated -t value was 12.68 which found to be significant at 0.05 level.
Conclusion: Dumping syndrome is the most common complication of gastric surgery. Dietary management and lifestyle modification is the best way to manage the problems related to dumping syndrome. Before the administration of structured teaching program the patients had inadequate knowledge regarding prevention and management of dumping syndrome. However after administration of the Structured Teaching Program on prevention and management of dumping syndrome majority of the patients gained adequate knowledge regarding prevention and management of dumping syndrome.