An interventional one group pre-test and post-test research design was used in this study. The study was conducted from January 2017 to March 2017 and the setting was selected in various hospitals, Wockhardt Hospital, and Ganga Care hospital at Nagpur after getting ethical permission (Ref. no: DMIMS(DU)/IEC/17-18/7020). The leukaemia patients were informed and explained the objective of the study. The written informed consent, duly signed individually by them, was obtained. A total of 60 patients were included in the specified period of time.

Inclusion criteria: Leukaemia patients who can understand and write English and Marathi, and who gave consent for participation in the study.

Exclusion criteria: Critically ill and illiterate patients were excluded from the study.

Demographic variables were collected in terms of age, gender, education, residential area. A structured questionnaire, [Annexure 1] was formed with 24 multiple choice questions and these were classified as: (i) meaning of causes and effect of leukaemia; (ii) medical management, lifestyle management, complications and prevention of leukaemia. After extensive review of literature [8] and with the help of experts, the structured questionnaire was prepared. Each correct answer carried one mark and the total score was 24. The prepared tool was validated by twelve experts (ten from the Nursing Department, one from the Department of Medicine and one from the Physiology Department). Reliability analysis was done by the Guttman split-half coefficient and was 0.90, hence the tool was found to be reliable, valid and feasible.

The interview technique was processed for 60 samples and was planned to gather demographic information and the knowledge on leukaemia management. On the first day of the data collection, the pre-test was conducted on the management of leukaemia. The questionnaire was given to every study participant; each one required approximately 30 minutes filling the standardised questionnaire. Following the pre-test, intended teachings were conducted on the management of leukaemia for 45 minutes which was divided into two groups (30 participants in each group) with sufficient audiovisual aids in a quick and clear understandable way for the study participant using PowerPoint presentation. The post-test was carried out with the same questionnaire on the 7^th day.

The collected data were coded, tabulated and analysed by using descriptive statistics (mean percentage, standard deviation) and inferential statistics. Significant difference between pre and post-test readings was tested by using a t-test; association of knowledge with demographic variables was done by one way ANOVA test.

Majority of the samples were from 26-35 years of age. The majority of them belong to secondary education. The majority of the, 75% belong to an urban area [Table/Fig-1].

Pre-test, about 38.33% had poor knowledge score, 51.67% had average knowledge score, 10%, has good knowledge score and none of them had very good knowledge score. The minimum score was 4 and the maximum score was 15, the mean score was 7.57±02.696 with a mean percentage score of 31.54% [Table/Fig-2].

Post knowledge lesson plan execution, none of them had poor and average knowledge, 20% had good knowledge score and 80% had very good knowledge score. The minimum score was 14 and the maximum score was 24, the mean score was 21.13±1.885 with a mean percentage score of 83.66% [Table/Fig-3].

Hence, it was statistically interpreted that the planned teaching on knowledge regarding management of leukaemia among leukaemia patients was helpful. Thus the H1 is accepted and H0 is rejected in this research [Table/Fig-4].

There was a substantial association between knowledge scores of leukaemia patients with respect to education of leukaemia patients (p-value=0.014) and residence area (p-value=0.047) [Table/Fig-5].

The study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching about leukaemia management. It intended to promote patients knowledge of leukaemia about management. The mean post-test score 21.13 (±1.885) was higher than the mean score in pre-test 07.57 (±02.695), thus show that the scheduled teaching was effective. The significant difference between the two tests was evaluated by using paired t-test and the degree of significance was set at the computed t-value (p<0.001), suggesting that there was a substantial difference in the awareness of patients with leukaemia regarding leukaemia management.

A similar study was carried out by Kale A, on the effectiveness of the proposed teaching program related to home treatment of Acute Lymphocytic Leukaemia (ALL) on awareness among caregivers of children undergoing chemotherapy in selected hospitals. Findings showed that planned teaching program intervention has been significantly effective in improving knowledge among caregivers and there is no correlation between caregiver knowledge and demographic variables such as (age, gender, child relationship, employment, income) [8].

A previous study on treating Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) showed improvement in management of patients by understanding the experience of patients. It resulted in the tremendous progress in the treatment of CML. Thus, it was understood that oncology nurses who can clarify evolving results and their significance were included with quicker, wider responses, to be a valuable asset for hospitals and their patients [9].

A study was conducted in which sixty parents of patients with paediatric leukaemia were taken in the study. It shows that educational intervention increased the parents ‘knowledge of paediatric leukaemia patients about healthy siblings’ needs and how to meet them. It was recommended that educational programs for parents should be designed to enhance the quality of life in the healthy children [10].

Research by Połocka-Molińska M et al., aims to assess common knowledge shared by patients with leukaemia aged 12-18 years and to determine their attitude to the diagnosed disease. In patients aged 12-18 years, the level of knowledge about leukaemia is highest in respondents aged 18 years. There is no dependence between the lapse of time from the moment of diagnosis and the increase in knowledge about the subject. With the time-lapse from the moment of diagnosis, the attitude of young leukaemia patients towards their illness does not change [11].

A study was conducted by Saxena A, with a purpose to evaluate and estimate the knowledge, attitude and practice of nursing staff regarding chemotherapy administration and its side effects. It shows that the planned teaching program was intended to be successful in raising awareness, cultivating a favorable attitude and enhancing correct practices in the administration of chemotherapy and its management of side effects [12].

The study focused on finding the efficacy of scheduled information education about leukaemia management amongst leukaemia patients into which management of leukaemia scores was taken as the main indicator. The other limitation was though the tool assessed knowledge regarding leukaemia management, the scores were self-reported, so an increase in the score had definitely shown knowledge increase but how far it was transformed into practical application could not be evaluated. Another limitation was, due to resource constraints the individual-level data could not be compared pre-interventional knowledge and post-interventional teaching (authors used aggregate data to compare scores).

The current study concludes that leukaemia patient’s understanding of leukaemia management is insufficient. However, the knowledge can be improved with planned teaching. Training helps them to take the appropriate measures to recognise and prevent leukaemia complications. Further studies with the involvement of family members and caretakers providing proper resources for aiding leukaemia management and practices are needed to study the real impact of the intervention.