The purpose of this longitudinal pilot study is to characterize the symptoms experienced and the feeding volumes infused over time for adults with cancer who are receiving prescribed enteral feedings at home. Since varied symptoms have been reported with enteral feedings, it is important to know when these sensations and symptoms are experienced by adults with cancer, in order to prepare them for this nutrient therapy. In addition, there are no published reports addressing the relationship between symptoms and the amount of the prescribed feeding that is actually delivered.
Specific aims for this longitudinal pilot study of adults with cancer receiving enteral feedings are to: 1) describe patterns of symptoms and changes in characteristics of symptoms over a 12 week period; 2) explore the relationships among enteral feeding volumes, level of adherence to prescribed feedings, and symptoms experienced over a 12 week period; and 3) examine four feasibility elements of long-term weekly data collection for nutritionally compromised cancer patients. A longitudinal design will be used for this pilot study of 20 adults, 19 years or older, diagnosed with head or neck cancer, beginning enteral feedings for the first time, and discharged home from a health care agency within 48 hours of contact. Each patient will be interviewed by telephone weekly for 12 weeks. During the interviews, patients will be asked to describe current enteral feeding status, including volumes infusing per feeding and per day. Patients also will be asked to describe any sensations experienced since the last interview, and provide a comparison with the previous week. Analysis will focus on data from each time point by sensation and sensation group (GI, tube-related, and other sensations), as well as comparisons among sensations and infused volumes, using Generalizing Estimating Equations. Distress scores for each symptom and symptom group will be calculated. The results till serve as a basis for developing an informational intervention to be used with adult oncology patients who are going to be starting, or are receiving enteral feedings.
