| Abstract [eng] |
Health-Related Quality of Life and Psychosocial Needs of Cancer Patients Aim of the Research. To research the quality of life of the oncology patients and its links with the physical, psychological and social needs of the patients. Tasks. The research of the quality of life of the oncology patients with the use of the questionnaire of the health related quality of life "QLQ C-30". The assessment of the influence of the socio-demographic and medical factors to the quality of life of the oncology patients. The research of the oncology patients' needs with the use of the questionnaire of the patients' needs "NEQ". The assessment of the influence of the socio-demographic and medical factors to the physical, psychological and social needs of the oncology patients. The analysis of the links between the quality of life and physical and psycho-social needs of the oncology patients. Matarials and Methods. 100 oncology patients were evaluated, in the age range of 28 - 84 years of age, with an average age of 64 years, of them 49 women and 51 man. The survey of the patients was performed by using three questionnaires: health related quality of life "QLQ C-30", the needs of the oncology patients "NEQ" and of socio-demographic indicators. The statistical analysis of the research was performed by using the application "SPSS 16.0" and "R" statistical package. The means of the numeric indicators (M) and standard deviations of the means (SD) were calculated. The significance of the differences between the means of the groups was tested with "ANOVA" test. The method of polychoric correlations was used for the correlations. Results and Conclusions. After researching the health related quality of life of the oncology patients, it was established that their physical, activity, cognitive and social functions were average. The quality of life was worsened by symptoms of the illness: pain, fatigue and insomnia. The direct link between the insomnia and the life quality assessment was identified. The research of the influence of the socio-demographic and medical factors to the quality of life of the oncology patients revealed that bigger number of physical and emotional disorders are experienced by the patients who live alone. The links between the experienced physical and emotional experiences, and the diagnosis of the illness, underlying illnesses and applied treatment were identified. The needs of: communication with other people, help and support, the treatment and performed tests related information, were the most important for the oncology patients. The needs of the oncology patients depend on the diagnosis of the illness, underlying illnesses and applied treatment. A big need for attention and communication was identified among the patients with the highest level of education. After analysing the links between the health related quality of life and needs, it was established that there is a strong connection between the symptoms of the illness and emotional functioning. The worse activity functioning of the patients, who lack the information about the illness and social support, was evaluated. The link between the worse physical functioning and functioning of activity was established. The evaluated structure of dependencies allows to conclude that the improvement of one aspect of quality of life can have an indirect positive effect to other aspects and to the general quality of life. |
