Distress and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors in Korea

Eun Jin Kwon; Myungsun Yi

doi:10.5388/aon.2012.12.4.289

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Kwon and Yi: Distress and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors in Korea

Original Article

Asian Oncology Nursing

Asian Oncology Nursing 2012; 12(4): 289-296.

Published online: 31 December 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5388/aon.2012.12.4.289

Distress and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors in Korea

Eun Jin Kwon¹, Myungsun Yi²

¹Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

²College of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Kwon, Eun Jin. Graduate School of Nursing, Seoul National University, 103 Daehak-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. Tel: +82-2-740-8837, Fax: +82-2-740-8837, etrangere@snu.ac.kr

Received 5 November 2012 Accepted 25 December 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study were to find the levels of distress and quality of life of breast cancer survivors in Korea and to identify relationship between distress and quality of life.

Methods

The data were collected from 122 breast cancer survivors in 2009. To measure the distress and quality of life, the 'Distress Thermometer and Problem List'and the 'Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-Breast'were used respectively.

Results

The mean score of distress was 4.77 (±2.35) and 63.1% of the subjects reported a distress score of 4 or more, indicating a clinically significant level of distress. Among these, the most frequently reported problem area was emotion, followed by family. The mean score of the quality of life was 88.22 (±18.41), signifying 6.13 out of 10. The levels of distress and the quality of life were negatively correlated (r=-.38, p<.001).

Conclusion

The results of the study indicate that distress is prevalent in Korean breast cancer survivors and the distress is related negatively with their quality of life. Thus oncology professionals continuously need to assess distress of breast cancer survivors and to provide appropriate psychosocial interventions to improve their quality of life.

Keywords: Breast Neoplasms, Psychological Stress, Quality of Life, Psychological Adaptation, Survivors

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Frequency of Distress score (N=122)

^*1-3 score=43/122 (35.3%); 4-10 score=77/122 (63.1%).

Table 2

Frequency of Problem List items in the participants with Moderate to Severe Distress (N=77)

Table 3

Score of Quality of Life (N=122)

FACT=Functional assessment cancer therapy; BCS=Breast cancer subscale.

Table 4

Correlation between Distress score and Quality of life score (N=122)

^*p<.05.

Table 5

Distress and Quality of Life score according to Socio-demographic & Illness Related Characteristics of the Participants (N=122)

^*p<.05, ^a,b,cScheffe's grouping; ^†Single treatment, Operation or Chemotherapy or Radiation-therapy; ^‡Op+Chemo=Operation+Chemotherapy; ^§Op+Chemo+RT=Operation+Chemotherapy+Radiation-therapy.

Notes

This article is a condensed form of the first author's master's thesis.

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