Initiating and Maintaining Complete Decongestive Therapy Self-Management of Lymphedema Among Breast Cancer Survivors: Descriptive Qualitative Study.

Interventions should be tailored to promote the initiation and maintenance of CDT self-management. While clinicians provided knowledge-based and clinical skills-based information, patient peers provided daily life examples, and real-life implementation strategies for CDT self-management. Ongoing patient-provider and patient-peer communication functioned as effective support for maintaining CDT self-management. Reliable and realistic methods of symptom self-assessment are important for maintaining CDT at home.