Mental Status Change of Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy

Abstract

Patients diagnosed with the serious disease of cancer may have anxiety and fear of closed spaces while receiving radiation therapy. This study investigated patients receiving treatment based on Linac and Tomotherapy to look into this anxiety and fear. Study method was survey. The survey was performed according to treatment duration (treatment within 5 minutes, 10 minutes, over 20 minutes, and over 30 minutes). The patients were also surveyed about any experience of changing treatment rooms or machines due to machine failure. A total of 200 survey questionnaires with full answers were researched in this study. As a result, it was found that the less the patients' experience on radiation therapy, the higher their anxiety was. The dominating reason for this result was because the patients expected possible pain during the treatment process. In terms of treatment machine, Linac showed the highest anxiety of all for the openness of its patient stand. The most stable status was found in the case of treatment between 20 minutes and 30 minutes using Tomotherapy. The reason was the coziness of Tomotherapy machine. In the case of receiving the treatment for over 30 minutes, patients felt anxious for the isolation from the outside. The study findings are expected to serve as the necessary data for quality medical service with enhanced patient satisfaction in the clinical field.