This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate quality of life for breast cancer patients (n = 105) undergoing chemotherapy, and to assess their satisfaction with nursing care. It also explored relationships between quality of life, satisfaction with nursing care, and demographic and disease-related characteristics. Ethics approval for this study was provided. The research was carried out between October 2011 and June 2012. Quality of life and satisfaction with nursing care were assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scale, the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale and the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale. We found that emotional well-being was the area most negatively affected, with patients reporting being afraid of death, feeling sad and being worried about their health. Patients were overall quite satisfied with the nursing care they received at the hospital. We found a positive correlation between total scores on the Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale and social and family well-being scores. Breast cancer patients have fears and concerns about their health and need support during chemotherapy for coping with negative changes in their emotional well-being, physical and functional well-being.

Objective: Cancer is a disease that threatens the life of patients and causes chronic health problems and many symptoms that affect their quality of life. For this reason, patients must be followed up in palliative care units, where they can receive more comprehensive care from the diagnosis stage. This study was conducted to evaluate the views and knowledge level of oncology nurses in the integration of early palliative care among cancer patients. Method: A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study design of the research was employed to gather data from 106 nurses working in different areas of oncology in hospitals located in different cities in country from March to May 2021. Results: Nurses' total scores on the Palliative Care Knowledge Test differed significantly by age, years of working in the profession, the unit worked and the working time in the unit (p < 0.05). Conclusion:The results of the study showed that the nurses' knowledge of palliative care was above the moderate level. The nurses with high knowledge scores advocated the need for early integration of palliative care. Moreover, the results also indicated that there is a need to increase the educational level of nurses in palliative care.

No abstract