Feasibility and acceptability of a preoperative video education intervention to support psychological readiness for bowel function recovery in colorectal cancer care: a prospective single-arm study

Purpose Bowel dysfunction is common after surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC) and often affects quality of life. Limited preoperative preparation and lack of survivorship-focused education may lead to mismatched expectations and suboptimal functional recovery. This study evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of a preoperative video-based educational intervention and explored patient-reported outcomes including knowledge, distress, enablement, self-efficacy and empowerment.Methods A prospective, single-arm study aimed to recruit 25 participants with CRC treated with curative intent between March 2023 and December 2024. Preoperatively, patients watched four 10-minute videos created by pelvic floor physiotherapist, two colorectal surgeons, medical oncologist, oncology dietitian, and CRCnurse, and completed questionnaires immediately before and after video viewing. Primary outcome was feasibility, with secondary exploratory patient-reported outcomes including acceptability, knowledge, distress, perceived enablement, self-efficacy, empowerment, and satisfaction via surveys. Descriptive statistics were used.Results Participation rate was 70% (29 of 43 eligible patients consented); 1 withdrew, and 27/28 participants watched all videos. Feasibility criteria were met, with recruitment reaching 70% and 96% completing all four videos (defined a priori as 30% and 80%, respectively). Acceptability was also demonstrated, with 80–90% of participants agreeing the videos were easy to use, useful and appropriately designed. Improvements in knowledge and distress scores were observed. Participants reported high post-intervention scores in enablement, self-efficacy, and empowerment.Conclusions Preoperative educational videos are feasible and acceptable and may support early survivorship preparation. These findings provide preliminary data to inform the design of a future phase II randomised controlled trial evaluating the intervention.