Objective To investigate the effects of cognitive behavioral intervention based on humanistic care principles on pain, psychological state and recovery in patients with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early upper gastrointestinal cancer.

Methods A total of 196 patients with ESD for early upper gastrointestinal cancer were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 98 cases in each group. The control group received standard education about ESD for early upper gastrointestinal cancer, while the observation group received additional cognitive behavioral intervention based on humanistic care principles. The recovery status, the score of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, the score of the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the score of the General Self-efficacy Scale (GSES), and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.

Results In the observation group, the time to first flatus after surgery, the time to first defecation, and the length of hospital stay were (24.67±8.25) hours, (43.90±10.27) hours and (9.38±2.02) days respectively, which separately were shorter than (27.83±9.40) hours, (50.03±12.85) hours and (10.26±2.37) days in the control group; the VAS scores at 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery in the observation group were (2.63±0.67), (1.84±0.52) and (1.33±0.38) points respectively, which were separately lower than (2.89±0.70), (2.06±0.58) and (1.47±0.42) points in the control group; the SAS score after intervention was (38.73±7.40) points in the observation group, which was lower than (42.05±8.01) points in the control group; the GSES score in the observation group after intervention was (31.53±6.27) points, which was higher than (29.28±5.96) points in the control group; all the between-group differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the overall incidence rate of complications between the two groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusion Implementation of cognitive behavioral intervention based on humanistic care principles for patients with early upper gastrointestinal cancer can effectively alleviate pain and anxiety, and promote faster recovery in patients.