Distinct Self-Management Profiles for Pulmonary Rehabilitation After Lung Cancer Surgery

BACKGROUND: Self-management is crucial for successful pulmonary rehabilitation after lung cancer surgery. Yet, interventions often fail to address the heterogeneity in patients' self-management capabilities. OBJECTIVE: To identify key dimensions of self-management and construct self-management profiles to characterize distinct self-management patterns among postoperative patients with lung cancer. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative design was employed. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 24 postoperative patients with lung cancer from a tertiary hospital in Liaoning Province, China. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis to develop a three-dimensional framework and construct self-management profiles. RESULTS: Three key dimensions of self-management emerged: description, characteristics, and needs. Five distinct self-management profiles were identified: the Medically Dependent, the Technology-Empowered, the Harmony-Preserving, the Culturally Constrained, and the Knowledge-Driven self-manager. Twenty-two participants were assigned to these profiles, and 2 exhibited mixed patterns that did not fit a single profile. Each profile was defined by unique descriptors, behavioral traits, and support needs. CONCLUSIONS: Significant heterogeneity exists in how patients self-manage postoperative pulmonary rehabilitation. Self-management profiling provides a person-centered framework for developing tailored interventions, supporting a shift from standardized to precision nursing in oncology rehabilitation. IMPLICATIONS FOR ONCOLOGY NURSING PRACTICE: Nurses can use these profiles to conduct stratified assessments before discharge, identify high-risk individuals, and design differentiated rehabilitation plans. Integrating profile-specific strategies-such as simplified education for the medically dependent or culturally aligned approaches for the culturally constrained-into continuous care pathways may enhance patient adherence and self-efficacy.