Structural Equation Modeling on Health-related Quality of Life among Patients with Thyroid Cancer

Abstract

The aim of the study was to create a structural model based on Wilson and Cleary's Conceptual Model of Patient Outcomes. Secondly, the intention was to identify variables influencing the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as reported by patients with thyroid cancer. Methods: A total of 201 patients with thyroid cancer were recruited from an outpatient clinic. Data were collected from June to November, 2015, using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire included the Quality of Life-Thyroid Scale, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), Medical Outcome Study Social Support Survey, MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Thyroid, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, and general characteristics of patients. The data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 21.0, AMOS 21.0, and SmartPLS 3.2.3 programs. Results: The fitness of the hypothetical model with the Wilson and Cleary model was satisfactory, showing that the coefficients of determination (R 2) were between .101 and .692 and the predictive relevance (Q 2) were between .124 and .320. The model explained 69.2% of the HRQoL. Symptom experience, functional status, disease perception, and social support directly and indirectly affected HRQoL. Age and TSH had an indirect influence on the HRQoL with the mediation effect of reported symptom experience. Conclusion: To improve the quality of life for patients with thyroid cancer, comprehensive nursing interventions need to be developed and applied. Decreasing the reported symptoms, changing the perception of the disease, improving functional status, and increasing social support may contribute to a higher quality of life among patients with thyroid cancer.

A Study on the Cancer Adaptation, Family Support and Self-efficacy of Middle-aged Breast Cancer Patients

“…Thus, if family support and self-efficacy are higher, the degree of cancer adaptation is higher. Social support was shown to affect cancer adaptation in a previous study on thyroid cancer [20], while the current study reflects that cancer adaptation is positively correlated with family support and its amount. In a study by Park et al [21], the grade of anxiety and depression was significantly higher in female patients than it was in male patients, and they found that emotional temperament could cause emotional disorders.…”

Analysis of the Effect of Nursing Intervention for Thyroid Diseases Based on Family Nursing Methods

“…There is no universally accepted definition of home care. According to the literature [11], home care is a professional nursing service that employs all nursing processes and targets members of the whole family and family subsystems with varying degrees of health. The goal is to help the family system and its members achieve optimal health.…”

A Structural Model of Quality of Life in Patients after Colorectal Cancer Surgery

“…As a result of this study, it was found that symptom experience and health promotion had a direct effect on the quality of life of colorectal cancer surgery patients, and self-efficacy and social support had an indirect effect, and these variables explained 58.7% of the quality of life of colorectal cancer surgery patients. This is somewhat lower than the explanatory power of the quality of life model, which was 63% to 69%, respectively, in the study results of gastric cancer patients [ 34 ] and thyroid cancer patients [ 10 ]. It was found that there was a difference according to the influencing factors.…”

“…This study is based on the health-related quality of life model of Wilson and Cleary [ 4 ] and previous studies [ 9 , 10 ]. This study established a hypothetical model by synthesizing the influencing factors that explain the quality of life of patients with colorectal cancer surgery.…”

“…In this study, a theoretical framework of factors influencing the quality of life of colon cancer surgery patients was also created. In studies conducted on elderly patients [ 8 ], coronary artery disease [ 9 ], and thyroid cancer [ 10 ], the main concepts proposed by this model are physiological characteristics that have been reported on, including symptom status, functional status, disease awareness, environmental characteristics, and quality of life. This model was applied to clarify the quality of life elements of various topics by reporting the relationship between these main concepts and quality of life.…”