Impact of WeChat education mode on mental health of family members of cancer pain patients

Objective To discuss the impact of WeChat education mode on mental health of family members of cancer pain patients, with the final purpose to improve the mental health level of patients' family members. Methods One hundred cases of family members of cancer pain patients who accepted hospitalization in Respiration Department and Oncology Department of the First Hospital of Jiaxing and discharged with stable condition from February 2014 to December 2014 were divided into control group and observation group according to random number table and each group had 50 cases. Family members in control group accepted the regular health education and those in observation group accepted both regular healthy education and the WeChat health education. WeChat education mode includes establishing WeChat education groups who jointly compile WeChat education contents, sending education contents in WeChat groups regularly, arranging team members to participate in group chat in WeChat, etc. Also, Symptom Check List (SCL-90) and Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ) were adopted to comparatively assess the two groups before education and 5 months after education. Results After education, family members in observation group exhibited no significant difference with those in control group in terms of factor score of phobia and psychoticism (all P>0.05). Factor scores of somatization, obsession-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, and paranoid ideation in observation group were obviously lower than those in control group, and difference was statistically significant (all P<0.05). Factor scores of self-accusation, illusion, and retreating in observation group were lower than those in control group, and difference was statistically significant (all P<0.05). Factor scores of seeking help and solving problems in observation group were higher than those in control group, with difference exhibiting statistical significance (all P<0.05). Conclusion The application of WeChat mode on mental health education of family members of cancer pain patients obviously improves the perception of family members on cancer pain caused by malignant tumor. Family members can maintain optimistic emotions and conduct normalized management on cancer pain patients. Therefore, both the living quality of cancer pain patients and the mental health level of their family members are improved.