In cancer care, patients undergoing chemotherapy are required to manage their illness independently. Such management involves following the doctor's instructions and making critical decisions that affect their survival, such as reporting side effects or going to the emergency room. This research aimed to identify the types of knowledge patients need to manage their symptoms and side effects effectively. We focused on two types of knowledge: a) procedural knowledge, which involves understanding the steps to follow in various scenarios, and b) mechanistic knowledge, which pertains to understanding the underlying processes behind these procedures.
Our findings revealed that while procedural knowledge was strongly linked to self-efficacy in managing symptoms, mechanistic knowledge was closely related to the patient’s confidence in managing interactions with their doctor for decision-making. That is, both types of knowledge are crucial for optimal disease management. We compared the changes in these knowledge types between a group receiving only traditional training given in the hospital and a group using a learning module that provided mechanistic information about the treatment and disease. We found no improvement in knowledge for the group with traditional training, whereas the group using the learning module showed significant improvements in both types of knowledge. These results highlight the critical role of mechanistic knowledge, which is often overlooked in patient guidance.