follow-up call five weeks and one y

follow-up call five weeks and one year postoperatively, one
of the researchers (BW) asked the patient at home an openended
question: ‘What were the main surgery-related
difficulties postoperatively? How did you cope with those
problems?
Analysis
Data from EORTC QLQ-C30 – CR38, PBI and clinical
records were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social
Science for Windows (SPSS, version 14.0). In the descriptive
data analysis, frequency counts, percentages, mean values
and standard deviations were used. The sign test and
Pittman’s test were used for statistical calculations.
The interviews during the follow-up call were analysed in
an objective way. The process used when analysing the data
was similar to content analysis. A characteristic of this
method is the systematic distillation through analysis of
verbal or written data to describe and quantify specific
phenomena into fewer content-related categories sharing the
same meaning (Graneheim & Lundman 2004). The final
outcome of this process was the identification of categories
that describe patients’ surgery-related symptoms postoperatively.
Ethical considerations
Ethical approval was obtained from the Regional Ethical
Committee, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Results
Of the 32 eligible patients, 31 completed the questionnaires.
One patient was excluded due to surgical complications.
Demographic data, surgical procedure, surgical method,
duration of surgery and anaesthesia were presented (Table 1).
The hospital stay was six days (range 2–12). Three patients
were readmitted within 30 days, no serious complications
were recognised.