Multi‐dimensional quality of life among long‐term (5+ years) adult cancer survivors

Abstract

Survival from cancer has improved over the past decade resulting in more long-term survivors. The literature on multi-dimensional quality of life (QOL) among long-term (5+ years) adult survivors is reviewed for each of seven cancer sites (i.e. breast, ovarian, cervical, prostate, colorectal, head and neck, and Hodgkin's disease survivors). Overall, long-term survivors experience good to excellent QOL. Physical domain QOL was the most frequently measured while spiritual domain QOL was the least frequently measured. QOL varies according to treatment received and by age for all groups with older persons (excepting head and neck and Hodgkin's disease survivors) reporting better QOL. QOL improves with time for breast cancer survivors and tends to decrease over time for prostate cancer survivors. Issues regarding sexual functioning affected the social domain-especially for breast and prostate cancer survivors. Social support improves psychological domain QOL for breast, cervical, and colorectal survivors. Review of findings may assist researchers and clinicians wishing to enhance the QOL of the long-term survivor population by identifying the most pressing and widely experienced concerns and by providing directions for future research.

Do Current Cancer Follow-Up Care Practices Meet the Needs of Young Adult Cancer Survivors in Canada? A Aualitative Inquiry

“…One such study from the United States reported that older young adults expressed a need for improved age-appropriate information and support (such as fertility options and psychological counseling) and that younger respondents wanted treatment options that least interfered with their lifestyle 13 . General health and wellbeing, sexuality, and a lack of social support have been cited as important issues for young adults, but are often poorly understood during cfc in this population 14 . Other studies provide evidence supporting the benefits of social support, counselling, and therapeutic intervention for the emotional, functional, and symptom-related adjustments associated with cancer survival 15,16 .…”

Associations among baseline variables, treatment-related factors and health-related quality of life 2 years after breast cancer surgery

“…The most important task is to provide a social support system and rehabilitation for patients with long-term physical, mental and functional problems after cancer treatment, with the goal of improving long-term HRQOL, on which social support has a great effect [5,8,14,16].…”

“…Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a multidimensional, multifaceted concept that includes the influence of disease and treatment on the patient's life, with QOL being an important outcome of cancer therapy [3,4]. The improvement of overall HRQOL after surgery for breast cancer is generally dependent on the time from diagnosis to treatment [5]. However, breast cancer patients after diagnosis have poorer physical functioning in comparison with healthy controls [6][7][8][9], and more frequent malaise [10][11][12].…”

Value orientation of children with oncological diseases in relation to quality of life

“…Za důležité považujeme především to, že nemocný jedinec vnímá svou kvalitu života a mění svůj názor na svět i sebe samotného. Otázkou kvality života osob s onkologickým onemocněním se zabývala řada autorů (Bloom, Petersen & Kang, 2007;Hacker, 2008;Cadmus, Salovey, Yu, Chung, Kasl & Irwin, 2009). Kvalita života je veličinou vícerozměrnou, dynamickou, bez jednotného teoretického základu.…”