An exploration into the quality of life of women treated for cervical cancer

Abstract

Background Cervical cancer mainly occurs among women from the developing world, and women face unique challenges in terms of their disease and treatment. Most women present with advanced cervical cancer and receive the standard curative treatment with external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy with or without chemotherapy. Objectives To describe the quality of life (QOL) of women treated for cervical cancer during treatment (M0), at 6 months after completing treatment (M6) and at 12 months after treatment (M12). Methods A cross-sectional design, calculated sample size ( n = 153) and convenience sampling were used. Data were collected through structured interviews, and the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ CX24 served as data collection instruments. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data, and the Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to compare the mean responses across the groups ( p ≤ 0.05). Results The mean age of the respondents was 50.6 years (standard deviation [SD] 11.9). The global health status improved significantly in contrast with the functional scores. Financial difficulties were rampant, especially during the treatment phase. Insomnia and urinary frequency were the most cumbersome problems and remained so even after treatment. Conclusions Despite an improvement in the global health, cervical cancer and its treatment had a negative influence on the QOL in all domains of lives of these women. Assessing the QOL of patients during treatment and follow-up visits would allow nurses to develop interventions to address distressing problems timeously. In addition, Africa’s nurses should assess social functioning and develop programmes to prevent social dysfunction.

Longitudinal Health-Related Quality of Life Study among Cervical Cancer Patients Treated with Radiotherapy

“…Furthermore, inclusion of QOL monitoring into individualized patient care, in conjunction with proper interventions of the therapeutic team, might contribute to elaboration and actualization of evidence-based standards of care [ 1 ].…”

“…It seems that the therapeutic priority should not only be treating the cancer, but also reaching such a state that the patient feels that life is worth living. Research shows that, despite overall health improvement in the world, cervical cancer, as well as its treatment, negatively affects quality of life in all of its aspects [ 1 ]. Furthermore, patients who received multimodal treatment, radiochemotherapy, experienced more problems indicated in individual subscales, as well as in overall quality of life, than patients who underwent only surgery [ 2 ].…”

The Life Quality and Sexual Function of Women Underwent Radical Hysterectomy

“…Cervical cancer is the fourth most occurring female malignancy worldwide (Korfage et al, 2009;Sabulei and Maree, 2019). In Kazakhstan, the incidence rate of cervical cancer is fourth amongst all malignant neoplasms.…”

The Perceptions of Professional Nurses Regarding the Performance of Cervical Cancer Screening, in Makhuduthamaga Sub-district, Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…The study adds the body of knowledge about the perceptions of professional nurses regarding the cervical cancer screening is low, while a high number of women are admitted in hospital at an advanced stage of cervical cancer. According to Sabulei and Maree (2019), South Africa is the second most common cancer in women regarding cervical cancer, and most commonly in black women with 30% of all cancers. It is expected of every professional nurse to perform their duties as expected by their scope of practice as stated in the Nursing Act 33 of 2005 (Muller & Bester, 2016) thus fulfilling their functional status (Sabulei & Maree, 2019).…”

“…According to Sabulei and Maree (2019), South Africa is the second most common cancer in women regarding cervical cancer, and most commonly in black women with 30% of all cancers. It is expected of every professional nurse to perform their duties as expected by their scope of practice as stated in the Nursing Act 33 of 2005 (Muller & Bester, 2016) thus fulfilling their functional status (Sabulei & Maree, 2019). The study was conducted among professional nurses to establish their perceptions regarding performance of cervical cancer in Makhuduthamaga Sub-district, as it contributes and form part of the high cervical cancer statistics in South Africa.…”