Abstract: Objective: To investigate the postoperative self-management activation and its influencing factors in young and middle-aged oral cancer patients with free flap transplantation, so as to provide reference for taking nursing measures to improve patients' self-management activation. Methods: A total of 258 young and middle-aged oral cancer patients with free flap transplantation admitted in a tertiary grade A specialized hospital in Nanjing from February 2022 to February 2024 were selected. The general information questionnaire, the Patient Activation Measure, the Social Impact Scale, the Acceptance of Illness Scale, and the Strategies Used by People to Promote Health were used for investigation. Univariate analysis and Mutiple linear regression were used to analyze the influencing factors. Results: The postoperative self-management activation score was 54.79±16.74 in young and middle-aged oral cancer patients with free flap transplant. Multiple linear regression analysis result showed that the education level, stigma, disease acceptance, and self-management efficacy were the influencing factors of self-management activation. Conclusion: The postoperative self-management activation of young and middle-aged oral cancer patients with flap transplantation patients is at a low to medium level. Healthcare professionals can formulate effective nursing interventions according to the influencing factors to improve patients' self-management activation.

Key words: young and middle-aged; oral cancer; activation; disease stigma; disease acceptance; self-management efficacy