Background: Quality of life is an important indicator for quality of care. This study aimed to determine the quality of life (QOL) and its predictors in Iranian women with breast cancer who undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy to design effective interventions in improving patients' QOL.
Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted on 190 women with breast cancer who were referred to oncology centers for chemotherapy and radiotherapy in Arak city, the central part of Iran. The participants were recruited utilizing convenience sampling method in a period from April to July 2018. Data were collected using demographic and disease characteristics questionnaires, QOL-Cancer30, QOL-Breast Cancer 23, Illness Perception Questionnaire, and Supportive Care Needs Survey - Short Form 34. Multivariate linear regression was used to analyze data.
Results: The mean (standard deviation) score of cancer QOL was 57.1 (25.8). On the other hand, the mean (standard deviation) scores of the symptom and functional domains of breast cancer QOL were 43.3 (17.9) and 44.3 (21.7), respectively. Predictive variables for cancer QOL were spouse education, insurance coverage, type of surgery, type of treatment, supportive care needs, and illness perception. Predictive variables for the domain of symptoms of breast cancer QOL included spouse education, income, supportive care needs, and illness perception, while for the functional domain of breast cancer QOL, the predictive variables were the type of surgery, spouse age, supportive care needs, and illness perception.
Conclusion: Fulfilling supportive care needs, helping to understand the curative nature of cancer, as well as empowering complementary health insurances are among intervenable variables to improve QOL among women with breast cancer.
Keywords: Breast cancer; chemotherapy; quality of life; radiotherapy.