Contribution of Sociodemographic, Clinical, and Psychological Variables to Quality of Life in Women with Cervical Cancer in the Follow-Up Phase

Abstract

This study evaluates the contribution of sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables to quality of life (QoL) of women with cervical cancer in the follow-up phase. This cross-sectional study, conducted at the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Lisbon, included 200 women with cervical cancer during follow-up. Patients were assessed on QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30), body image and specific symptoms (EORTC QLQ-CX24), psychological morbidity (HADS), social support (SSSS), emotional expression (CECS), and spirituality (SpREUK). Education and social support contributed positively to QoL, whereas body image and symptoms contributed negatively. Body image played a moderating role in the relationship between depression and QoL, but not between anxiety and QoL. Spirituality and emotional expression did not moderate the relationship between anxiety/depression and QoL. Health professionals should reference and monitor women with cervical cancer, providing support at the diagnosis and follow-up phase since physical and psychological symptoms, resulting from the disease, remain after the end of treatment and contribute negatively to their QoL. Interventions should focus on these particular outcomes to promote patients' QoL.

The Importance of Social Support, Optimism and Resilience on the Quality of Life of Cancer Patients

“…Cancer reduces quality of life considerably ( Pirri et al, 2013 ), due to being a disease in itself and the limitations experienced by patients ( Mc Caughan et al, 2013 ). Such decrease in quality of life is caused by a variety of factors and it has been observed in every type of cancer ( Barbus et al, 2018 ; Adamowicz et al, 2020 ) and all the stages of the medical process ( Lopes et al, 2019 ).…”

Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Needs among Hispanic Women Living on the US-Mexico Border

“…Many of the women interviewed mentioned lack of social support after they were diagnosed and during treatment, which has been cited previously as a crucial barrier to QoL during and after experience with cancer (Khalil et al, 2015;Lopes et al, 2020;Shinan-Altman et al, 2022;Sun et al, 2021;Tejada et al, 2015;Yagmur & Duman, 2016). Research demonstrates that poor social support during cancer is correlated with significantly greater distress and feelings of abandonment as well as more maladaptive coping methods (Levkovich et al, 2022).…”

“…Spirituality has been shown to contribute significantly to QoL (Garssen et al, 2015; Khalil et al, 2015). Most of the participants in our study were college-educated, which has also been shown to contribute significantly to QoL (Lopes et al, 2020; Mujahadatuljannah, 2019; Reese et al, 2017; Sun et al, 2021). All of the women were mothers and expressed that they gathered strength to fight their cancer for their children, who were incredibly important to them.…”

“…However, medical/technological advancements allow greater confidence in today’s treatment modalities for cervical cancer, and some individuals are likely to value long-term QoL over short-term risk of failure, whereas providers are more conservative when it comes to risk of death and conversely are more likely to be tolerant of long-term complications (Pfaendler et al, 2015). Therefore, physicians should discuss short- and long-term advantages and disadvantages of all treatment options and provide supportive care not only throughout treatment but post-treatment as well so that patients are well-informed and therefore better able to manage disease sequelae in the future and determine the course of action they would like to take (Khalil et al, 2015; Lopes et al, 2020; Pfaendler et al, 2015; Vermeer et al, 2016). Kusy et al (2013) have also applied innovative technologies in gene expression programming and neural networks to predict adverse effects of radical hysterectomy in cervical cancer patients, which could contribute to a better ability to weigh hysterectomy as an option when considering different treatment modalities.…”

Analysis of Influence Factors of Quality of Life of Lung Cancer Patients with Skin Adverse Drug Reactions Under Targeted Therapy

“…Patients immersed in bad emotions paid less attention to disease management, on the other side, bad emotions might affect the judgment of self-worth, resulting in the reduction of self-identity. All of these led to the decline of patients' QoL [41].…”