Objective This study aimed to explore the influence of diversified clinical pathway nursing based on the information-knowledge-belief-behavior (IKAP) theory on negative emotions and quality of life of bladder cancer patients undergoing intravesical chemotherapy.

Methods A total of 102 patients who were diagnosed with bladder cancer and received intravesical chemotherapy were selected as the study subjects. According to the random number table method, they were divided into a control group and an observation group, with 51 patients in each group. The control group received routine nursing, while the observation group received diversified clinical pathway nursing based on IKAP theory. Negative emotions Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS), Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF), self perception General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), Self-Perceived Burden Scale (SPBS), treatment compliance (bladder perfusion patient compliance questionnaire) and quality of life EORTC QLQ-C30) of the two groups were compared before and after the intervention. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between patients' fear and self perception, treatment compliance and quality of life, and to compare the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups.

Results After intervention, the SAS, SDS, CFS, fop-q-sf and SPBs scores of the observation group were lower than those of the control group, while the GSEs score, timely perfusion, cooperative operation, regular inspection, reasonable diet and timely medication scores of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (P ＜ 0.01). After the intervention, the physical, role, emotional, cognitive and social functions of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (P ＜ 0.05 ~ P ＜ 0.01). Fop-q-sf score was negatively correlated with GSEs score and treatment compliance score (P ＜ 0.01), and positively correlated with SPBs score and overall functional score of quality of life (P ＜ 0.05 and P ＜ 0.01). The incidence of adverse reactions in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P ＜ 0.05).

Conclusion The diversified clinical pathway nursing based on IKAP theory can effectively reduce the negative emotions of patients with bladder cancer undergoing perfusion chemotherapy, improve their self perception and treatment compliance, significantly improve their quality of life, and reduce the incidence of adverse reactions.