The evaluation of life quality of women after the surgical treatment of breast cancer associated in the amazons’ clubs
Keywords:
breast cancer, mastectomy, quality of lifeAbstract
THE EVALUATION OF LIFE QUALITY OF WOMEN AFTER THE SURGICAL TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER ASSOCIATED IN THE AMAZONS’ CLUBS
Introduction. Breast cancer is one of the most common and most dangerous cancers. The methods of treatment and the after effects may be the reasons of life quality lowering, determined by somatic psychological and social factors.
The most popular methods of assessing the quality of life are surveys. They give reliable knowledge concerning the subjective assessment of life quality of patients.
Aim. The evaluation of life quality of women after the surgical treatment of breast cancer associated in the amazons’ clubs.
Methods and materials. The surveyed group consisted of 61 women after breast surgeries associated in the amazons’ clubs. During the research there were used questionnaires including questions concerning social, demographical and clinical data as well as standardised EORTC QLQ-C30 i QLQ-BR23 questionnaires. Statistica ver. 10.0. software has been used to analyze data.
Results. The average age of surveyed women was 60 and most of them were married. QLQ-C30 survey showed that general quality of life has been lowered after mastectomy. The best results were observed in physical functioning and social roles fulfillment. The most common disorder symptoms were insomnia, tiredness, and pain. In QLQ BR-23 questionnaire the best scores were given to were sexual pleasure and sexual functioning. Surveyed women have low estimation of their own body image and majority of them have been diagnosed with obesity.
Conclusions
- Mastectomy lowers the general quality of life.
- Sexual pleasure and functioning are the main factors improving the quality of life.
- The age of surveyed women and their permanence in relationships have impact on sexual pleasure and functioning.
- The higher BMI index, the worse body image perception.
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Copyright (c) 2012 Julita Tomalska, Agata Trytko, Dorota Ogarek, Joanna Schmidt, Marta Bibro, Małgorzata Łaczek-Wójtowicz, Katarzyna Wódka (Autor)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
