To explore the potential categories of the trajectory of care dependency in patients with gastric cancer (GC) after laparoscopic radical gastrectomy and analyze sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with each trajectory class.
Key Findings:
Four care dependency trajectory categories were identified: C1 (low dependency-stable group, 5.82%), C2 (high dependency-increased group, 22.33%), C3 (complete dependency-increased group, 62.13%), and C4 (persistent dependency group, 9.71%).
Primary predictors of care dependency trajectory categories included psychological resilience, age, social information support, time to first ambulation, BMI, and albumin.
Interpretation:
The heterogeneity in care dependency trajectories of patients after laparoscopic radical gastrectomy highlights the necessity for tailored nursing interventions.
Limitations:
The study was conducted in a single tertiary hospital, which may limit the generalizability of the findings.
The sample size of 223 patients may not capture all potential variations in care dependency trajectories.
Potential biases may arise from the single-center study design.
Conclusion:
Nursing staff should identify trajectory types inconsistent with overall trends and their influencing factors to effectively reduce care dependency levels through targeted interventions.
