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Association between unmet needs and quality of life in hospitalised cancer patients no longer receiving anti‐cancer treatment
Author(s) -
Bužgová R.,
Hajnová E.,
Sikorová L.,
Jarošová D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/ecc.12181
Subject(s) - medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , hospital anxiety and depression scale , anxiety , palliative care , depression (economics) , cancer , cross sectional study , physical therapy , family medicine , psychiatry , nursing , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Assessing the quality of life and unmet needs of cancer patients is an integral part of palliative care. This cross‐sectional study sought to determine whether there is an association between quality of life and unmet needs, anxiety and depression in cancer patients who are no longer receiving anti‐cancer treatment. The sample consisted of 93 patients from the oncology department at the U niversity H ospital in O strava for whom further cancer treatment had been terminated as ineffective in halting the progression of their cancer. The E uropean O rganisation for R esearch and T reatment of C ancer Q uality of L ife Q uestionnaire ( EORTC QLQ ‐ C 30), the P atient N eeds A ssessment in P alliative C are ( PNAP ) questionnaire, and the H ospital A nxiety and D epression S cale ( HADS ) were used to collect data. The overall quality of life score was quite low at 46. Most unmet needs were defined in terms of physical, psychological or spiritual needs. Correlations were found between impaired quality of life and lower K arnofsky scores ( r = 0.50); increased physical ( r = 0.52), psychological ( r = 0.44) and spiritual ( r = 0.36) needs; and higher levels of anxiety ( r = −0.30) and depression ( r = −0.68). Effective management of patients' physical (pain, fatigue and depression), psychological and spiritual needs may improve their quality of life.