Quality of life among lymphoma patients receiving chemotheraphy in Hospital USM

• Main Author: Fazilan, Nurul Sarah
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: R Medicine
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/51112/1/Nurul%20Sarah-24%20pages..pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/51112/

Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, can occur at any age including children and may occasionally compromise a person’s quality of life (QOL). One of the treatment commonly suggested for cancer is chemotherapy. The temporary side effects associated with the chemotherapy treatment may also influence the patients’ Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). A better understanding of the relationship between the variables explaining QOL may improve care and rehabilitation of lymphoma patients. Thus, this study aimed to identify the QOL of lymphoma patients receiving chemotherapy and the association between the QOL and socio-demographic characteristics among lymphoma patients in Hospital USM. A total of 24 lymphoma patients aged between 18 to 73 years old were involved in this study. A cross-sectional study design was employed. The data was then collected using the Function Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Lymphoma (FACT-LYM) instrument and then analyzed using SPSS version 26. Pearson’s Chi Square test was used to determine the association between the QOL of lymphoma patients and their socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, marital status, occupational status, educational level, time since diagnosis and current chemotherapy cycle). This study found that majority of the lymphoma patients receiving chemotherapy had moderate score of QOL (n=24, 103.88). Of seven factors of socio-demographic characteristics, only age was found as significantly associated with the QOL of lymphoma patients (p=0.042). These study revealed that a better care by health care providers are required to improve the lymphoma patients’ QOL.