Health-related Care Needs, Satisfaction and Quality of Life of Prostate Cancer Patients with Radiotherapy
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Bai, Ya-Ying
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of life, health-care needs, and health-care satisfaction of prostate cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. The study involved 174 subjects at a medical center in northern Taiwan. Four data-collection instruments were used: the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30, EORTC PR-25, international index of erectile function-5 (IIEF-5), and a health-care needs questionnaire.he results were as follows: (1) The greatest unmet health-care needs were psychosocial and spiritual. In addition, patients expressed a need for health education regarding diet. They also needed assistance with communication with health-care professionals and management of physical symptoms. (2) Patients who were undergoing radiation treatment had poorer emotional functioning and worse fatigue, insomnia, urinary symptoms, and hormonal treatment-related symptoms than those who had completed radiation treatment. (3) Health-related quality of life was affected by urinary symptoms, fatigue, financial problems, reduced feelings of masculinity, chronic disease numbers, and lower levels of role functioning and social support (adjusted R2 = 0.454). (4) Health-care satisfaction was lower when subjects had more unmet health-care needs, diarrhea, chronic bowel reaction to radiation, and pain (adjusted R2 = 0.612). (5) Only 10.3% of subjects reported sexual activity within the preceding 4 weeks. Most patients felt less masculine as a result of their illness or treatment. Health-care professionals seldom initiated sexual health education, and the level of satisfaction with sexual health education was low. he findings of this study indicate that medical staff members should provide more health education regarding diet and sexual activity, offer more psychosocial and spiritual support, and better manage fatigue and urinary symptoms in patients with prostate cancer. Reducing the level of unmet needs would improve patients’ quality of life and increase their health-care satisfaction.
Subjects
prostate cancer
radiotherapy
health-related quality of life
health-care needs
SDGs
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