Objective To investigate the effects of intervention nursing based on Meleis transition theory on the discharge readiness of patients with lung cancer treated with chemotherapy.

Methods A total of 120 lung cancer patients scheduled by routine chemotherapy were randomly divided into the routine nursing group and intervention nursing group(60 cases in each group).The routine nursing group and intervention nursing group were given the routine nursing and intervention nursing based on Meleis transition theory during chemotherapy period, respectviely.The readiness for hospital discharge scale(RHDS) was used to assess the patients' readiness for discharge, the functional assessment of cancer therapy-lung (FACT-L) scale was used to evaluate their quality of life, and the simplified coping style questionnaire(SCSQ) was used to assess their coping styles.

Results In the RHDS scale at discharge, the scores of personal status, adaptive ability and expected help and total scores in the intervention nursing group were significantly higher than those in routine nursing group(P < 0.01).The scores of physiological status, social/family status, emotional status, functional status, lung cancer specific modules and total scores in the FACT-L scale at discharge in the intervention nursing group were significantly higher than those in routine nursing group(P < 0.01).The number of active coping patients in the intervention nursing group was 57 cases(95.7%), which was significantly higher than that in routine nursing group(31 cases, 51.7%)(P < 0.01).

Conclusions Intervention nursing based on Meleis transition theory can improve the discharge readiness, coping abilities and quality of life of patients with lung cancer treated with chemotherapy, which is worth of promoting in clinical practice.