Depression and fatigue symptoms increased during radiotherapy treatment, while QoL levels decreased. This demonstrates that these symptoms are strongly correlated and that their presence negatively influenced QoL. At the start of treatment, nurses need to advise patients and plan care, offering interventions to decrease these symptoms and improve QoL.

This study aimed to investigate the frequency of symptoms of depression in patients with cancer of the head and neck undergoing radiotherapy treatment, in the initial, middle and final stages of the treatment. This is a prospective exploratory quantitative study of 41 patients with head and neck cancer, undergoing radiotherapy treatment in the Oncology Outpatient Clinic of the Beneficência Portuguese Hospital of Ribeirão Preto. Data were collected through the Beck Depression Inventory instrument, and analyzed quantitatively by means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Symptoms of dysphoria were found to increase throughout the treatment, as well as the number of patients with depression. The results show the importance for the healthcare professionals to detect the prevalence and the levels of the symptoms of depression, since these symptoms tend to increase and may lead to consequences such as a lack of adherence to treatment and a decrease in the quality of life of these patients. Síntomas del depresión en los pacientes con cáncer de cabeza y cuello en tratamiento radioterápico: un estudio prospectivoEl objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la frecuencia de los síntomas de depresión en pacientes con cáncer de cabeza y cuello en el principio, medio y final del tratamiento radioterápico. Se trata de un estudio prospectivo, exploratorio y cuantitativo realizado con 41 pacientes con cáncer de cabeza y cuello en tratamiento de radioterapia en la Clínica de Oncología del Hospital Beneficencia Portuguesa de Ribeirão Preto. Los datos fueron recolectados a través del Inventario de Depresión de Beck y analizados cuantitativamente en el programa Statistical Package of Social Science. Como resultados se obtuvo los síntomas de disforia aumentaron durante el tratamiento, así como el número de pacientes con depresión. Los resultados muestran la importancia de los profesionales de salud en detectar los niveles y la prevalencia de síntomas de depresión, ya que estos síntomas tienden a aumentar y pueden llevar a consecuencias como la falta de adherencia al tratamiento y disminución de la calidad de vida de los pacientes.Descriptores: Radioterapia; Depresión; Neoplasias de Cabeza y Cuello.

Objective:characterize the scientific production of Brazil and Spain in regard to methodological aspects and aspects of health-related quality of life experienced by cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in both countries. Method:integrative literature review was conducted using the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, SCOPUS and CUIDEN and the electronic libraries PubMed and SciELO, conducted in September 2013. Results:a total of 28 papers met the inclusion criteria. The synthesis of knowledge was presented in three categories of analysis: assessment of quality of life in different types of cancer; sociodemographic factors that influenced quality of life; and type of cancer and interventions that improve quality of life. Chemotherapy affects health-related quality of life and the most important factors were: age, sex, chemotherapy protocol, type of surgery, stage of the disease, educational level, and emotional intelligence. Complementary therapies such as acupuncture, guided visualization, prayers and exercise were positive and reduced side effects. Conclusion:the results showed a poor level of evidence, since 86% of the studies were cross-sectional descriptive studies; the instrument most frequently used to measure health-related quality of life was EORTC QLQ C-30 and more studies were conducted in Brazil than in Spain.

Objective: to evaluate the health-related quality of life of patients with head and neck cancer during radiotherapy treatment.It was carried out with 41 patients between 2009-2010 in central radiotherapy. Methods: this is a longitudinal study. It wasused the Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy Head and Neck. The predominance of cases were male, with a mean age of62 years. Results: in the 5 domains assessed, the one that was more affected was the “physical well-being”, which is directlyrelated to the side effects of treatment. Conclusion: the symptoms caused by the treatment are negatively associated withthe Quality of Life Related to Health Care, so it is important that the health care team assess and identify the needs of thepatient, allowing him to have a monitor that meets your needs and minimize symptoms.

Objetivo: Avaliar os efeitos do relaxamento com imagem guiada sobre a qualidade de vida de pacientes durante quimioterapia. Metodologia: estudo quase-experimental realizado em dois centros de quimioterapia. Utilizou-se instrumento QualityofLife Questionnaire-Core30. Resultados: no Tempo1, ambos grupos (controle e intervenção) apresentaram sintomas mais comuns: dor, fadiga, insônia e perda de apetite. Na comparação entre grupos, foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significantes no Tempo1, com o grupo controle apresentando melhores escores de qualidade de vida global, função social, náuseas e vômitos; Tempo2, para função física e Tempo3 para funções física, emocional, desempenho de papel, fadiga, náuseas e vômitos, com melhores resultados para o grupo intervenção. Comparando-se os tempos, o grupo controle apresentou prejuízo nas funções física, emocional e social, náuseas e vômitos e constipação, enquanto o grupo de intervenção apresentou melhora na função emocional. Conclusão: o relaxamento com imagem guiada proporcionou melhora na qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde dos pacientes durante quimioterapia.

Objective: to analyze and synthesize knowledge about the effect of acupuncture on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy symptoms in adults with cancer. Method: the method used was a Systematic Review. Potential articles were identified by searching in the PubMed of National Library of Medicine, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Cochrane Central and Scopus. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses strategy, 607 articles were identified. After removing the duplicates, all titles and abstracts were reviewed, and seven articles were selected for full review. After the full review, five studies were selected for inclusion. Results: of the five articles included, four were cohort studies and one was a quasi-experimental study. All articles showed that acupuncture was associated with an improvement in the peripheral neuropathy, but the type of protocol, use of medications, time of treatment, and different outcome measures made it difficult to compare the studies. Conclusion: the use of acupuncture appears to be associated with an improvement in the symptoms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and has no side effects. In order to improve the evidence about benefits associated with acupuncture, more experimental studies using both subjective and objective measures are needed.

Health-related quality of life of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy*Qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde de pacientes com câncer em quimioterapia Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud de pacientes con cáncer en quimioterapia

O objetivo foi avaliar o efeito do Relaxamento com Imagem Guiada sobre a presença de depressão em pacientes com câncer durante quimioterapia. Estudo quase-experimental, realizado em duas centrais de quimioterapia, entre 2009-2011. O grupo intervenção foi submetido ao relaxamento com imagem guiada; os grupos intervenção (n=73) e controle (n=79) responderam ao Inventário de Depressão de Beck. Os cânceres mais frequentes foram: mama, intestinal e gástrico. Diferenças estatisticamente significantes (p<0,05) entre os grupos (Teste de Mann-Whitney, p=0,0158) e entre os tempos (Teste de Wilcoxon, p=0,0401) foram encontradas, com o grupo intervenção apresentando mais pacientes “sem depressão” do que o controle. De acordo com Inventário de Depressão de Beck, os resultados evidenciaram que a intervenção ajudou a reduzir a presença de depressão nestes pacientes. Espera-se que a prática desta intervenção seja divulgada e difundida no trabalho do dia-a-dia do enfermeiro, para que, em um futuro próximo, os pacientes oncológicos possam se beneficiar com estas terapias.