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Findings of this study determined patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) experience long-term taste and eating problems. Nurses providing care to survivors of HNC treatment may improve quality of life for these patients by considering how to provide tailored intervention instead of global, general instructions.
Taste dysfunction is one of the most common side effects encountered in the treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC) (Alvarez-Camacho et al., 2016; Cohen et al., 2016). Of all of the sensory factors affecting food preference and dietary choices, taste is the most important (Heiser et al.,
2016). Taste dysfunction in survivors of HNC treatment is associated with malnutrition, tube feeding dependence, and reduced quality of life (QOL) (Alvarez-Camacho et al., 2016; Heiser et al., 2016; Lilja et al., 2018). However, nursing knowledge of interventions to help mitigate taste changes is limited; a recent survey of survivors of HNC treatment identified significant knowledge deficits related to taste changes (Berkowitz et al., 2018).
Limited information is available on taste and eating behaviors in cancer survivors, including those treated for HNC (Crowder et al., 2018). To design the intervention for this study, authors needed to translate information from the taste and olfactory field of sensory science. Nurses may use knowledge from taste science research to assess taste and design interventions to help patients cope with this persistent sensory deficit.
Interventions to help mitigate the effects of taste loss are possible because other senses are involved in food selection and dietary intake (Cox et al., 2018). For example, flavor recognition has been shown to improve caloric intake in those with taste loss because flavors may be recognized by sight, tactile sensation, and smell. In a group of 211 patients who had undergone tonsillectomy and had long-term taste loss related to nerve damage, weight gain attributed to non-taste sensory factors was shown (Bartoshuk et al., 2012). Authors documented an increased preference for the tactile sensation of fatty foods such as dairy; they also noted increased olfactory acuity to which they attributed the weight gain observed in the study sample.
Interventions to maximize contact between taste receptor cells and food may increase taste recognition (Boesveldt & de Graff, 2017). These recommendations include taking in more fluid, chewing carefully, and eating slowly. Eating...