The Effect of Discharge Education and Post-Discharge Telephone Counseling on Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy: A Randomized Controlled Study

Aim: This study aims to determine the effect of model-based discharge education, and post-discharge telephone counseling on patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy on their quality of life. Methods: This randomized controlled study consisted of patients who underwent radical prostatectomy surgery and completed with a total of 42 patients, 20 of whom were in the experimental and 22 in the control group. The experimental group patients and their relatives were given discharge education and patients were called every two weeks after the operation. The control group received standard care. The patients’ quality of life was evaluated the day before the operation, and at the 6th and 12th weeks after surgery. The data were collected with the “Personal Information Form”, and “Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12)”. Results: 55.0% of the patients in the experimental group and 54.5% of the patients in the control group experienced urinary incontinence; 45.0% of the experimental group patients and 50.0% of the control group patients experienced erectile dysfunction three months after surgery. The experimental group had statistically significantly higher SF-12 mental component scores in the 12th week than the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Model-based discharge education and post-discharge telephone counseling for patients who had radical prostatectomy surgery were effective in the mental dimension of the patient's quality of life, but not in the physical dimension. Providing patients with different information channels will support the psychological dimension of their quality of life.