Introduction:Cancer is a leading cause of death. People living with cancer experience a variety of symptoms. Quality of life (QOL) is a major concern of patients with terminal cancer. Symptoms affect their QOL. Management of symptoms improves distress and QOL.Objective:The objective of the study was to assess the QOL among cancer patients.Materials and Methods:A survey was conducted among 768 cancer patients selected by a convenient sampling technique. Data was collected from cancer patients by interview technique using structured and validated interviewed schedule.Results:Out of 768 cancer patients, 30.2% patients were in the age group of 51–60 years, majority with head–and-neck cancer (40.1%), and 57.7% had stage III disease. QOL of majority of patients was influenced by their symptoms. 82.3% of them had low QOL scores.Conclusion:Cancer patients experienced many symptoms that affected their QOL. There is a need to develop interventions for effective management of symptoms that will empower the patients to have a greater sense of control over their illness and treatment and to improve the QOL.

BackgroundThe prevalence of malnutrition among children in developing countries is very high. As a step towards reducing the prevalence of malnutrition, there is a need to identify the important determinants of malnutrition in the specific population so that preventive and control measures can be implemented.The objective of the study is to determine the risk factors for malnutrition among preschool children in Rural Karnataka, South India.MethodsA case-control study was carried out among preschool children, aged between three to six years, attending the Anganwadi centers and their mothers’ in Udupi district of Karnataka, India. A total of 570 children (190 cases and 380 controls) were selected by multistage cluster sampling technique. A semi-structured risk factors questionnaire was used to identify the risk factors for malnutrition among children.ResultsThe majority (45.8 and 45.5%) of the children in the study were in the age group of 3.0 to 4.0 years in case and control groups respectively. There was a slight preponderance of illiterate parents among cases in comparison to the controls. Largely, 87.4% of the children belonged to poor socio-economic status in the case groups compared to 82.4% in the control group. After adjusting for the confounders, underweight was significantly associated with socio-economic status of the parents (aOR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.06, 3.96), birth weight < 2000 g (aOR: 25, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.59), recurrent diarrhoea (aOR: 2.74, 95% CI: 1.56, 4.83), recurrent cold and cough (aOR: 3.88, 95% CI: 1.96, 7.67), worm infestation (aOR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.19, 3.38) and prelacteal feed given (aOR: 3.64, 95% CI: 2.27, 5.86).ConclusionParental education, childhood illness, short birth interval, open defecation, type of weaning and complimentary food given to children were some of the significant determinants of underweight that were found in the study. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns alleviating food habits and taboos and promoting birth spacing is the need of the hour for preventing the occurrence of undernutrition among preschool children.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-5124-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background:People living with cancer experience wide variety of symptoms. If symptoms are not managed well, it may hamper an individual's ability to continue his or her activities of daily life. Treatment of symptoms relieves suffering and improves the rate of recovery as well as the quality of life.Objectives:To assess the symptoms of suffering among cancer patients and to identify the perceived barriers to their symptom management.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was carried out among 768 cancer patients selected by stratified sampling with a proportionate selection from each stratum. Data were collected from cancer patients by interview technique using structured validated questionnaire.Results:Majority of the samples (30.2%) belonged to the age group of 51–60 years, most of them were diagnosed with head and neck cancer (40.1%) and 57.7% had stage III disease. The majority of the patients studied had pain (77%), tiredness (96.5%), disturbed sleep (96.4%), weight loss (63.3%), and irritability (85.7%). Most of the patients had lack of appetite (89.4%), feeling of sadness (96.6%), worry (94.5%), and feeling of nervousness (82.8%). Majority of the patients had some misconception regarding symptoms, that is, increasing pain signifies disease progression (92.7%), medicine to control pain may weaken the immune system (89.9%) and pain is inevitable for cancer patients (78.5%). Seventy-seven percent of samples reported that the anxiety or depression is expected after the diagnosis of cancer.Conclusion:This study provides an overview of symptoms among cancer patients and barriers experienced by them.

Introduction:Quality of life (QOL) should be considered as the main outcome measure for patient with advanced cancer. QOL of cancer patients is affected by several factors.Objectives:The objective of the study was to assess the symptom interference and the relation between the domains of QOL among cancer patients.Methodology:An exploratory survey conducted among 768 patients diagnosed as Stage III or IV of cancer of breast/cervix/head and neck/gastrointestinal tract/lung/colorectal. Data were collected using pretested reliable structured interview questionnaire.Results:Out of 768 cancer patients, symptoms burden was interfered completely in their relationship with others among 445 (57.9%), sleep among 491 (63.9%), and QOL among 433 (56.4%). The domains of QOL were general well-being, physical well-being, psychological well-being, familial relationship, sexual and personal abilities, cognitive well-being, economic well-being, informational support, doctors’ cooperation, and body image. Since the data were not following the normal distribution, Spearman rho was computed to assess the relationship between the domains. The data revealed that there is a positive statistically significant correlation between the domains of general well-being of the participants with physical wellbeing (r = 0.265, P = 0.001), psychological well-being (r = 0.195, P = 0.001), sexual and personal abilities (r = 0.278, P = 0.001), and body image (r = 0.168, P = 0.001). The study inferred that cancer patients with good cognitive well-being and high economic status had a sense of positive body image.Conclusion:Cancer patients have poor QOL in physical and psychological domains. QOL of patients is affected by the symptoms suffering during the treatment and diagnosis. Symptoms need to be managed effectively to improve the QOL of cancer patients.

Introduction The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge and practice skills of home-based colostomy caregivers of children with a colostomy. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of video teaching module on colostomy care among home-based colostomy caregivers. Method A quasi-experimental study design and 30 samples were adopted. The samples selected by the purposive sampling technique those were fulfilled the sample criteria. Demographic and structured knowledge questionnaires were used for the data collection.Result Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis by using SPSS software version 16.0. Out of 30 samples, demographic variables, 23 (76.6%) of the participants are of age between 21 and 30 years, 21 (70%) were housewives, 23 (76.6%) were mothers, 16 (53.4%) completed higher secondary, and 23 (76.6%) have monthly family income of INR 5001-10000. The majority of the children with a colostomy were toddler 22 (73.3%), gender ratio was equal, 27 (90%) are of Hindu religion, and 29 (96.7%) undergone colostomy. Knowledge score was divided based on percentage. Good knowledge scores in pre-and posttest are 0 and 29 (96.5%); moderate knowledge in pre-and posttest, 9 (30.5%) and 1 (3.3%); and poor knowledge in pre-vs posttest, 21(70%) and 0, respectively. Inferential statistics evaluated colostomy care video intervention. Knowledge was assessed by paired t test, − 19.607 (p < 0.05); similarly, practice skill assessed by Wilcoxon signed-rank was (z) − 4.716 (p < 0.01). Conclusion Colostomy care video was a powerful tool to enhance primary caregivers' confidence, colostomy care skills, and attitude.