Quality of life amongst cancer patients

Pages: 1295-1299
Sanjay Kumar and Promila Batra (Department of Psychology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana)

Cancer is a serious and acute disorder that is known to be fatal. Due to its life threatening nature, it is usually marked by hopelessness and negative attitude towards life. Anxiety and depression amongst such patients are common. The treatment itself, in many cases, brings further deterioration in physical health of the patients along with psychological status. Therefore, it is important to understand the quality of life (QOL) of the individuals suffering from cancer. Keeping this in mind, present study was designed to assess and compare the QOL of various types of cancer patients in India with normal subjects. It was hypothesized that QOL would be significantly poor amongst the patients of cancer. To test the hypothesis, multi group design with four types of cancer i.e. breast, cervix, lung & prostate cancer (Stage II & III) was employed. A parallel control group was also taken in the 5 groups design. Sample consisted of 250 subjects. 50 cancer patients in each group and 50 normal healthy control subjects were selected on the basis of availability and informed consent. European Organization Research and treatment of cancer Quality of Life questionnaire C-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30 version 3.) was used to assess the quality of life of the cancer patients. One way ANOVA followed by DRT showed that quality of life amongst cancer patients had significantly reduced. Although trend of significant differences in various dimensions of quality of life of different cancer groups was not consistent, yet the deterioration of quality of life was found to be more in cervix and prostate cancer group and least in the breast cancer group on various dimensions. It is suggested and recommended that psychological intervention to improve the quality of life of cancer patients should be an integral part of the treatment and type of cancer should be considered while designing such interventions.