Effect of Basic Oral Care Education Given to Children Receiving Chemotherapy and Their Parents on Oral Mucositis: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Oral mucositis (OM) is significant clinical problem for children receiving chemotherapy. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of basic oral care (BOC) education given to children receiving chemotherapy and their mothers on the prevention and severity of oral mucositis. This study was a quasi-experimental, single-arm, pre-post intervention design conducted to evaluate the effect of basic oral care (BOC) education on the prevention and severity of oral mucositis in children undergoing chemotherapy. The study was carried out at the pediatric hematology and oncology unit of a university hospital in Trabzon, Türkiye, between January and December 2019. A total of 30 children aged 3-17 years who met the inclusion criteria and their parents were enrolled in the study. Data were collected using three instruments: the Information Form, the Basic Oral Care Follow-up Chart (BOCFC), and the World Health Organization Mucositis Assessment Scale (WHOMAS). Oral mucositis was assessed on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 21, while adherence to BOC practices was recorded daily using the follow-up chart. BOC education was delivered face-to-face by the same researcher to both children and their parents in two 25-minute sessions. The training included tooth brushing with the Bass technique, the use of oral care sponges, and sodium bicarbonate rinses. Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0. Normality was tested with the Shapiro-Wilk test. For nonparametric data, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was applied. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Data were analyzed for 30 children. In the post-training period, there was a significant increase in BOC practices, especially in the evening and at bedtime, compared to the pre-education group (<i>p</i><0.05). The results showed that there was a significant difference in the degree of oral mucositis after BOC education planned for children receiving chemotherapy compared to the group before BOC education (<i>p</i><0.05). In the pre-training period, the number of children who developed severe OM increased until day 14, improvement started after day 14, but severe OM was still detected in 3.3% of the children on day 21. After BOC training, children did not develop severe OM and mild mucositis decreased from 23.3% on day 14 to 3.3% on day 21. BOC education given to children receiving chemotherapy and their parents prevents the development of severe oral mucositis by increasing tooth brushing and mouth rinsing rates. BOC may be the best option to prevent OM and reduce the severity of OM in children receiving chemotherapy.