A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Stated Practice About Nutrition of the Cancer Patients Under Radiation Therapy Attending Oncology Unit in Selected Hospitals of West Bengal.

Cancer is the leading cause of the death in worldwide. Malnutrition which is the result of treatment of cancer mainly Radiotherapy becomes the major factor to triggers this disease and increased the rate of mortality. So it is important to have good and adequate knowledge and practice about nutrition of all cancer patients. A descriptive survey study was conducted for assessing the knowledge and stated practice about nutrition of the cancer patients under Radiation Therapy attending oncology unit in selected hospitals of West Bengal. Non Probability Purposive sampling technique was used to select 138cancer patient receiving Radiation Therapy. The data were collected by using structured questionnaire on demographic variable and structured knowledge questionnaire and structured stated practice questionnaire. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were computed to analyze obtained data. The ndings of the study revealed that 78% cancer patient under Radiation Therapy had average knowledge about nutrition, 12% cancer patient under Radiation Therapy had poor knowledge about nutrition, and majority of 78%cancer patient under Radiation Therapy had average stated practice regarding nutrition and 15% of cancer patient under Radiation Therapy had average stated practice regarding nutrition. That There is a signicant relation between knowledge and stated practice regarding nutrition of cancer patients under Radiation Therapy and weekly positive co-relation between knowledge and stated practice of cancer patient receiving Radiation Therapy.