Assessment of Oncology Patients’ Knowledge on Skin Care During and After Radiotherapy Treatment

Radiation therapy is one of the methods of cancer treatment, using ionizing radiation, which can lead to many negative skin changes. Therefore, its proper care is critical. This provided the impetus for an attempt to assess oncology patients’ knowledge of skin care during and after radiation therapy treatment. Methods: An anonymous and voluntary questionnaire survey was conducted among 100 patients during and after radiotherapy treatment at the Bohaterów Radomskiego Czerwca 76 Radom Oncology Center in Poland. The chi-square independence test was used to examine the independence of certain features. In case it was not possible to verify the hypothesis of the independence of features without the Yates correction, the chi-square independence test, with this correction, was used. Results: Fifty-three men and 47 women were included in the study, with prostate cancer (39%) and breast cancer (35%) being the most common, respectively. Most of the respondents were aged 56+. 67% of respondents indicated having negative skin lesions during or after radiation therapy treatment, which occurred most often in the areas of the head and neck (32%), chest (10%), and upper extremities (9%). 57% of respondents did not visit medical personnel or a cosmetologist for skin care. In contrast, 24% indicated a belief in a high level of knowledge about skin care during and after radiation therapy treatment. Conclusions: Analysis of the obtained results may lead to further development of certain issues in medicine. They are, among others, the need to increase awareness of society that has contact with oncological therapy on various actions which impact the maintenance of good skin condition, improvement of its appearance, and alleviation of symptoms which appear during or after radiotherapy.