Scholarly record

QUALITY OF LIFE AS AN EVALUATION INSTRUMENT OF TREATMENT IN PATIENTS WITH MALIGNANT DISEASES

Ivana Crnkovic, P. Buzov, M. Rukavina, A. Racz

Abstract

The concept of quality of life is an important evaluation tool for the subjective benefit of an oncologic population and forms the basis of the rehabilitation process. The aim of this study was to examine the quality of life of people with malignant diseases and to evaluate differences between different groups of people with malignant diseases. A total of 129 people with malignant diseases participated in the study: 29 people with colorectal tumor, 39 women with breast cancer, 35 laryngectomized persons and 26 people with leukemia and lymphoma. We used the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) and Questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 version 3.0 for self-assessment of quality of life. Assessment of quality of life and health satisfaction showed that patients with malignant disease is within the average achieved by healthy persons but the results show that their self-assessment has lower values within the expected normative range. Emotional functioning on average shows the lowest scores among functional scales. There is no statistically significant difference in the assessment of the quality of life between the observed groups covered by this research. The results on the scales of symptoms record on average the least difficulties in areas related to diarrhea, loss of appetite and difficulty breathing. Higher scores were recorded in financial problems, fatigue, and difficulty sleeping. The results of this research can serve as a basis for further development of guideline in the work with oncological patients.

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