The Effectiveness of Mobile-Based Self-Care Education and Counselling on General Health and Quality of Life of Women with Breast Cancer

The self-care program in patients with breast cancer is an important and effective factor in controlling and reducing the complications of the disease, which leads to more adherence to treatment and improves the health of patients. Considering the role of smart cell phones in people’s lives and their evident capacities for self-care, this study aims to determine the effect of cell phone–based self-care education and counselling on the general health and quality of life of women with breast cancer. Quasi-experimental pretest–posttest with a control group design study was conducted on 140 women with breast cancer referred to the Babol and Rasht Breast Cancer Registration Center in the north of Iran if they were eligible. The participants were randomly allocated into two groups, control and intervention, and educational intervention sessions in the form of video with text and audio were provided to the clients every week for 6 weeks with telephone follow-up, and sexual counselling sessions with the PLISSIT model were also provided in the Sky Room was established. Information was collected by using demographic information questionnaires, general health questionnaires (GHQ-12), general and specific quality of life questionnaires, and Edmonton Symptom questionnaires. According to the determination of the average difference between the control and intervention groups by adjusting the intervening factors (age, body mass, occupation, education, marital status, family history of breast cancer), the difference in general health was significant − 1.55 (95% CI: − 2.29, − 0.80, p