Introduction:

People with cancer undergoing drug treatment have specific health needs and must adapt to and cope with physical and psychological effects. Strengthening home care competencies may impact self-management behaviors.

Objective:

To determine, compare and establish the relationship between self-management behaviors and home care competence in adults with cancer during the first three months of drug treatment attending an oncology care center in the city of Bogota.

Methodology:

A quantitative, correlational and longitudinal study. Eighty-one adults were included and were administered a clinical characterization form, the home care competence scale and the self-management behavior scale at the beginning, one month and two months after starting chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics were used with measures of central tendency and dispersion, the Friedmann test for comparison and Spearman's coefficient for correlation.

Results:

The majority are older adults, the distribution by sex is balanced and there is a predominance of high functional status and hematological neoplasms. They present a competence for care and self-management behaviors at medium levels during the three moments that do not vary except for the level of knowledge that increases for the first follow-up. No correlation was identified between home care competence and self-management behaviors at baseline, one month and two months after the start of chemotherapy.

Conclusions:

Care competencies and self-management behaviors should be strengthened in the should be strengthened in the approach to people with cancer undergoing drug treatment independently, as complementary variables in the care process.