The relationship between illness perception and quality of life in thyroid patients who received radioactive iodine-131 ablation treatment
Abstract
Objective: Most of the differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) patients recover totally after the primary treatment. Unlike most of the other cancer types, the patients do not go through a long, challenging and weary treatment process in thyroid cancers. Illness perception has been suggested to have a significant effect on quality of life on cancer patients. We aimed to evaluate the effect of illness perception on quality of life in thyroid cancer patients who had radioactive iodine-131 treatment after total thyroidectomy.
Methods: Totally one hundred patients were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients' age, educational level, marital status and disease characteristics including stage, treatment and follow-up period since diagnosis were reviewed. Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36), the illness Perception Questionnaire were used to assess the quality of life and illness perception, respectively.
Results: When we correlated the illness perception sub-scales and quality of life dimensions in our study, the most apparent negative correlation was seen between the immunity dimension of the disease sub-scale and quality of life subdimensions. There was also a negative and significant (p<0.05) correlation between the dimensions of ability to understand the disease and overall health.
Conclusion: The low ability of patients to understand the disease significantly affects the negative impact on the quality of life of the disease perception. The needs of patients monitored during the remission period should be determined and a multidisciplinary approach should be preferred when necessary.
Keywords
References
- 1. Kus T, Aktas G, Ekici H, Elboga G, Djamgoz S. Illness Perception is a strong parameter on anxiety and depression scores in early-stage breast cancer survivors: a single-center cross-sectional study of Turkish patients. Support Care Cancer. 2017 Nov; 25(11): 3347-3355.
- 2. Kus T, Aktas G, Ekici H, Elboga G. Comparison of distress in breast cancer survivors treated with different adjuvant endocrine therapies: a single-centre cross-sectional study. Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2017; 27(3): 277-283.
- 3. Elboga U, Elboga G, Can C, Sahin E, Karaoglan H, Kalender H. Assessment of Procedure Related Anxiety and Depression in Oncologic Patients before F-18 FDG PET-CT Imaging. J Psychiatry. 2015 Dec; 23(18): 215.
- 4. Elboga U, Elboga G, Kalender E, Demir HD, Sahin E, Basıbuyuk M, Aydogan F, Celen ZY, Ozkaya M. Effect of Short Term Thyroxin Withdrawal on Health Related Quality of Life in Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma Patients. J Psychiatry. 2015; 18: 254.
- 5. American Cancer Society Cancer Facts and Figures. 2007 Annual Report. California Division and Public Health Ins. www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI
- 6. Sahin S, Elboga G. Functioning, quality of life, treatment adherence and insight among patients who received community mental health center services. Cukurova Medical Journal. 2019; 44: 2.
- 7. Coffey L, Mooney O, Dunne S, Sharp L, Timmons A, Desmond D, O’Sullivan E, Timon C, Gooberman-Hill R, Gallagher P. Cancer survivors' perspectives on adjustment-focused self-management interventions: a qualitative meta-synthesis. J Cancer Surviv. 2016 Dec; 10(6): 1012-1034.
- 8. Sullivan M, Karlsson J ve Ware JE Jr. The Swedish SF-36 Health Survey I. Evaluation of data quality, scaling assumptions, reliability and construct validity across general populations in Sweden. Soc Sci Med. 1995; 41(10): 1349-1358.
Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Health Care Administration
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Güzide Akyıldız
*
This is me
Türkiye
Gülçin Elboğa
*
0000-0003-3903-1835
Türkiye
Umut Elboğa
0000-0002-3650-8258
Türkiye
Ertan Şahin
This is me
Türkiye
Publication Date
March 30, 2019
Submission Date
March 6, 2019
Acceptance Date
March 14, 2019
Published in Issue
Year 2019 Volume: 6 Number: 3