scholarly journals Secondary lymphedema of the arm, the perception of the disease, self-efficacy and depression as determinants of quality of life in patients with breast cancer

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 961-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Popovic-Petrovic ◽  
Aleksandra Kovac ◽  
Natasa Kovac ◽  
Snezana Tovilovic ◽  
Ivana Novakov ◽  
...  

Background/Aim. Secondary lymphedema of the arm is one of possible side-effects and complications of breast cancer and its treatment which can contribute and precipitate to a number of new psychosocial problems. The aim of this study was to examine the differences in quality of life of patients suffering from breast cancer, with arm lymphedema and those without lymphedema, and to determine the significance of the perception of the disease, depressive symptoms and self-efficacy contribution to overall quality of life. Methods. The research was designed as a cross-sectional study, which included 64 patients ? 34 with arm lymphedema and 30 without lymphedema. Questionnaire FACT-B + 4 was applied to assess the quality of life, BIPQ for the perception of the disease, depression was measured by DASS-21 scale, while self-efficacy was tested by SGSE scale. T-test, Mann Whitney U Test, ?2 test and hierarchical regression analysis were applied to data processing. Results. There was not any significant difference between the groups in the total score of quality of life (t = 0.469, p > 0.05), or in the individual subscales: physical well-being (t = 0.535, p > 0.05), social/family well-being (t = 1.43, p > 0.05), emotional well-being (t = 1.35, p > 0.05), functional well-being (z = -0.243, p > 0.05), breast cancer scale (t = -0.839, p > 0.05) and arm scale (t = -0.514, p >0.05), while the perception of the disease (? = -0.603, t = -5.958, p < 0.001) and depression (? = -0.411, t = - 4.101, p < 0.001) proved to be significant predictors of quality of life and explain 50.2% variance of overall quality of life. Conclusion. The results of our study indicate the importance of a comprehensive rehabilitation program, directed both at functional and psychosocial aspects.

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 116s-116s
Author(s):  
S. Opoku

Background: Quality of life is an important clinical outcome in assessing health care. It is a concept that includes many subjective elements: physical, emotional and social function, attitudes to illness, patient's daily lives-including family interactions. Quality of life is increasingly used as an outcome measure in oncology research studies appearing in a variety of forms in several literatures. Aim: The study was aimed at assessing the quality of life of breast cancer patient undergoing treatment at the Radiotherapy Center, Accra, Ghana. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study involved 30 patients over a 3-month period. Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-B) Specific Scale for Breast Cancer Survey Instrument was used to collect the data which was analyzed with SPSS. Results: The peak age range of the patients was between (56-65) years. Out of these, 60% (n=18/30) received triple treatment modalities, namely, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Surgery and chemotherapy alone accounted for 16.7% (n=5/30). Further 10% (3/30) had surgery with adjuvant radiotherapy. Three patients 10% had only surgery and one patient (3.3%) received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The scores for the quality of life domains were general emotional well-being (18.8+8.4), general physical well-being (16.5+6.1), general social well-being (14.3+7.0) and general functional well-being (10.9+5.7). The quality of life of three patients (10%) was found to be poor, while 70% (n=21/30) had stable quality of life and 20% (n=6/30) with good quality of life. Conclusion: Considering the quality of life domains or subscale scores and the overall quality of life scores, it is concluded that no significant difference exists ( P > 0.05) in the quality of life status of the patients irrespective the treatment modality received.


2018 ◽  
Vol 103 (9) ◽  
pp. 1314-1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva K Fenwick ◽  
Ryan E K Man ◽  
Alfred Tau Liang Gan ◽  
Neelam Kumari ◽  
Charlene Wong ◽  
...  

Background/aimsTo assess the independent impact of diabetic retinopathy (DR) on three domains of vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) in a Chinese Singapore population.MethodsThe Singapore Chinese Eye Study (n=3353; 2009–2011) was a population-based, prospective, cross-sectional study conducted at the Singapore Eye Research Institute. The study population included 292 adults with diabetes, with and without DR. DR (better eye) was categorised as presence and absence of any DR; severity of DR (no vision-threatening DR (VTDR); severe non-proliferative DR (NPDR); PDR and/or clinically significant macular oedema and VTDR). Our main outcome was VRQoL which was measured using Rasch-calibrated scores from the ‘Reading’, ‘Mobility’ and ‘Emotional’ domains of the Impact of Vision Impairment questionnaire. The relationship between DR and VRQoL was assessed using multiple linear regression models.ResultsOf the 292 individuals (mean age 61.35 ± 9.66 years; 55.8% male), 201 (68.8%), 49 (16.8%), 20 (6.8%), 22 (7.5%) and 27 (9.2%) had no DR, minimal-mild NPDR, moderate-severe NPDR, PDR and VTDR, respectively. Any DR and VTDR were independently associated with 6% and 12% worse Reading scores and 7% and 18% poorer Emotional well-being, respectively, compared with those without DR. These associations persisted after separate adjustment for visual impairment and presenting visual acuity. No significant difference was found in the Mobility domain between persons with and without DR.ConclusionsWe documented that DR, particularly VTDR, was independently associated with restrictions in Reading and Emotional well-being. Understanding factors underlying the detrimental DR-VRQoL relationship may optimise rehabilitation outcomes for individuals with DR.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-216
Author(s):  
Dolly Bansal ◽  
Vijendra Nath Pathak ◽  
J. Pradhan ◽  
Anu Chaudhary

The study aims to highlight the occupation level on occupational stress, psychological well-being, and quality of life of Indian Army Personnel. The study was conducted on one hundred fifty Indian male Army Personnel of different rank belonging to 25 years to 45 years of age group. The cross-sectional design was used. The sample was selected through the purposive sampling technique. The tools measures like the Occupational Stress Index, Psychological Well-Being Scale and WHO Quality of Life-BREF Hindi was individually administered. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. One way Analysis of Variance results revealed that there is a significant difference in occupational levels on occupational stress, psychological well-being, and quality of life among Indian Army personnel. Pearson product-moment correlations coefficient showed a significant negative relationship between occupational stress with psychological well-being and quality of life and showed a significant positive relationship between psychological well-being and quality of life among Indian Army Personnel.


Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 382
Author(s):  
Constanta Urzeală ◽  
Aura Bota ◽  
Silvia Teodorescu ◽  
Mihaela Vlăiculescu ◽  
Julien S Baker ◽  
...  

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of life in Romanian type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) children attending an early interdisciplinary healthcare intervention. Hypothesis: engaging T1DM children in leisure sports leads to a better quality of life. Methods: This research embeds a cross-sectional observational study, incorporating some clinical characteristics relevant for diabetes management. The Kidscreen 27 questionnaire was issued to 100 T1DM children aged between 7 and 17 years. Parents completed the questionnaire. All subjects received interdisciplinary healthcare in the previous year. Statistics were performed using SPSS, v20. The required sample size of 100 subjects was obtained with a confidence interval of 95% and a sampling error of 0.009. The tests were two-sided, with a type I error set at 0.05. Results: Subjects reached an increased level of physical well-being, psychological well-being, autonomy, parent relationships, peer and social support, and school inclusion. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between children who practice leisure activities and children who only participated in physical education (PE) classes, regarding their physical well-being (t = 2.123). ANOVA demonstrated significant differences between age groups regarding physical well-being. Conclusion: The interdisciplinary healthcare intervention increased the efficiency of T1DM management with positive effects on life quality.


Mastology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Fernanda Fontinele Murici ◽  
Ângela Ferreira Barros

Objective: To evaluate which stage of breast reconstruction promotes improved quality of life for women treated for breast cancer, and to verify the socioeconomic and clinical factors associated with better quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 70 women treated for breast cancer in the perioperative period of late breast reconstruction in the Federal District. To assess quality of life, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy — Breast (FACT-B) instrument was used. Results: Half of the women were under 50 years old. Tumor removal surgery had occurred on average 5.4 years ago. Women with axillary dissection had greater impairment in the physical well-being domain (p=0.001) and the breast cancer subscale (p=0.016). Among women who had undergone surgery more than one year previously, there were higher domains of emotional (p=0.006) and functional (p=0.003) well-being. Women who underwent breast reconstruction had higher values in the social/family well-being (p<0.001), emotional well-being (p=0.001), functional well-being (p=0.001), and breast cancer subscale (p=0.005) domains; and on the FACT-B score (p<0.001), right after the first stage. Conclusions: Breast reconstruction favored better quality of life from the first stage, suggesting that this therapeutic modality should be offered promptly, whenever possible, and guaranteed for all women treated for breast cancer.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjiv Srivast ◽  
Alpana Srivast ◽  
Sandeep Tiwari

Abstract BackgroundBreast cancer is the commonest of all cancers among women across the world and India being no exception to this deadly disease. There may be many symptoms due to cancer, some are complex but some are not complex. Measuring quality of life (QoL) is important to measure overall burden of disease. It is important to evaluate cancer specific QoL which is associated to all stages of this disease. Also Quality of Life is a term that adds various dimensions of quality of life such as physical, psychological, socio-economical, spiritual, cognitional & social dimensions. Balance between all the four domains (i.e. Physical, Psychological, Social and Spiritual) means good quality of life, but in India QoL in general is not good and if we talk of cancer patients its worst.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is assessment of QoL in breast cancer patients undergoing treatment through various modalities at different stages of disease.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study, a total of 150 breast cancer patients were included. Patients quality of life were assessed by Ferrel‘s Quality of Life Instrument-Breast Cancer patient version and the instrument is already validated by Ferrel BR et al (2012). These questionnaires consist of general well-being, psychological well-being, distress, fearfulness, social concerns and spiritual well-being. The data obtained gives Cronbach alpha value of 0.642 which is reliable enough for further study. The QoL in for most subjects was around 50% and is a cause of concern as this is quite low as compare to global standards. ResultsA significant relationship between type of cancer, amount of pain, and fatigue (tiredness) was found. However, none of the demographic variables (age, marital status, income) were significantly related to QoL. Education and type of treatment were found to be correlated with QoL. The physical well-being score was found to be Mean = 4.82, SD = 2.19. The Psychological well-being score was found to be Mean=4.95, SD=2.02. For social well-being score was found to be Mean=4.98, SD=1.94. The highest score was for spiritual well-being Mean = 5.32, SD = 2.46.ConclusionInfluencing quality of life (QoL) is an important issue in Breast cancer patients. Apart from effect of treatment there are other factors like socioeconomic status, psychological well-being, fear of recurrence etc., Which plays a pivotal role in patients wellbeing and if counseled at various levels like family, hospital and society can improve QoL.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kirsty N. Prior ◽  
Verity E. Bond ◽  
Malcolm J. Bond

Purpose: The study sought to first confirm the mediating role of self-efficacy (SE) in the link between hearing loss and reduced quality of life (QOL) and introduce the construct of illness behavior (IB) as a further correlate of self-reported QOL that may itself be mediated by SE. Method: Cross-sectional data were attained using a questionnaire that was completed by 61 adults with self-reported acquired hearing loss. Results: Support was provided for low SE being a barrier to QOL, with hearing loss only predictive of emotional QOL when SE was an intermediary (mediating) variable. Cognitive and affective indices of IB also predicted QOL. Those participants with elevated emotional distress and, to a lesser extent, exaggerated concerns for their health, were found to have both lower SE and poorer QOL. Conclusions: Attempts to replicate these findings longitudinally and with larger and more diverse samples (e.g., congenital or illness-derived hearing loss) are encouraged. A more objective assessment of hearing loss may also reduce the potential for spurious associations that may arise from the use of self-reported data. Nevertheless, the analytical results provide encouragement for the continued consideration of IB in the evaluation of the well-being of individuals with hearing loss. It is proposed that IB could be a useful supplement to the study of motivation among this cohort, such as an addition to the commonly used Health Belief Model, to improve the predictive validity of appropriate health behaviors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e000244
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kumar Sahu ◽  
Sunil Kumar ◽  
Pankaj Yadav

Background: The World Health Organization defines - Health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Methodology: A cross sectional study on 96 patients with stroke aged more than 30 years was carried out NIMS Hospital, Jaipur for a period of 4 months from 1st January 2018 to 30th April 2018. Results: Out of 96 patients, Mean quality of score of patients with stroke was 65.04±9.982 there was significant difference seen in quality of life score according to sex, side of lesion, duration of stroke, socioeconomic status, occupation and hypertension. Conclusions: It can be said that quality of life is a multidimensional concept. As stroke cases is among the most devastating of health aspect, having multiple and profound effects upon all aspects of life, hence evaluation of quality of life is very important. Each and every effort should be made to improve these aspects and in turn to activity daily living (ADL) and improve the overall quality of stroke patients.


2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 360-365
Author(s):  
Gordana Grbic ◽  
Dragoljub Djokic ◽  
Sanja Kocic ◽  
Dejan Mitrasinovic ◽  
Ljiljana Rakic ◽  
...  

Introduction. The quality of life is a multidimensional concept, which is best expressed by the subjective well-being. Evaluation of the quality of life is the basis for measuring the well-being, and the determination of factors that determine the quality of life quality is the basis for its improvement Objective. To evaluate and assess the determinants of the perceived quality of life of group distinguishing features which characterize demographic and socioeconomic factors. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of the population in Serbia aged over 20 years (9479 examinees). The quality of life was expressed by the perception of well-being (pleasure of life). Data on the examinees (demographic and socioeconomic characteristics) were collected by using a questionnaire for adults of each household. To process, analyze and present the data, we used the methods of parametric descriptive statistics (mean value, standard deviation, coefficient of variation), variance analysis and factor analysis. Results. Although men evaluated the quality of life with a slightly higher grading, there was no statistically significant difference in the evaluation of the quality of life in relation to the examinee?s gender (p>0.005). Among the examinees there was a high statistically significant difference in grading the quality of life depending on age, level of education, marital status and type of job (p<0.001). In relation to the number of children, there was no statistically significant difference in he grading of the quality of life (p>0.005). Conclusion. The quality of life is influenced by numerous factors that characterize each person (demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of individual). Determining factors of the quality of life are numerous and diverse, and the manner and the strength of their influence are variable.


1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1672-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bernhard ◽  
B. Thürlimann ◽  
S.-F. Hsu Schmitz ◽  
M. Castiglione-Gertsch ◽  
F. Cavalli ◽  
...  

PURPOSE: In endocrine therapy trials in advanced breast cancer, patients with response (complete response/partial response [CR/PR]) and patients with stable disease for at least 6 months (SD6m) have shown similar survival and therefore are often defined as a population with clinical benefit (patients with CR/PR or SD6m). We evaluated the impact of response and/or clinical benefit on quality of life (QL) in postmenopausal patients under second-line endocrine treatment after failure of tamoxifen. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-eight of 177 eligible patients of a randomized trial (Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research 20/90) receiving either formestane (250 mg intramuscularly biweekly) or megestrol acetate (160 mg orally daily) were analyzed. The baseline characteristics (with the exception of site of metastases) were balanced among patients with CR/PR, SD6m, and progressive disease (PD). Patients completed QL indicators at baseline and at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 months. Responders were separately compared with nonresponders (patients with SD6m or PD) and with patients with SD6m, and patients with clinical benefit were compared with patients with PD by analysis of covariance with adjustment for baseline scores. RESULTS: Overall, 88% (557 of 634) of expected QL forms were received. In the comparison of responders versus patients with both SD6m and PD, responders indicated better physical well-being (P = .004) and mood (P = .02) at month 3. Compared only with patients with SD6m, responders showed no significant difference in baseline QL and time to treatment failure (328.5 v 340 days). While under treatment, responders reported significantly better physical well-being (months 3 to 11), mood (months 5 to 11), coping (months 5 to 9), and appetite (months 7 to 11) and less dizziness (month 9) than patients with SD6m. The changes between baseline and months 5 and 7, respectively, indicated improvement in responders but heterogeneous patterns in patients with SD6m. CONCLUSION: Although the CR/PR and SD6m groups had similar times to treatment failure, patients with CR/PR reported better QL, suggesting more beneficial response to second-line endocrine treatment. Patients' subjective perspective should be taken into account in this mainly palliative setting. Future trials should be designed so that the CR/PR and SD6m groups are investigated separately.


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