A Study to Assess Functional Assessment and lived experiences of Cervical Cancer Patients Admitted to a Tertiary level hospital of udupi district, Karnataka-A Mixed Method Protocol

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study is to determine the quality of life by functional assessment, cancer related fatigue and describe the lived experiences of cervical cancer patients undergoing sensitization chemotherapy in a tertiary referral hospital. Background: Patients diagnosed with cancer at an advanced stage of the disease and receiving sensitization chemotherapy experience a variety of psychosocial problems in addition to their physical problems. Women with cervical cancer are more vulnerable to experience loss of functional wellbeing and thereby have poor quality of life. They also experience cancer related fatigue along with a variety of other physical symptoms and psychological problems when compared to other patients. Exploration of lived experiences of these women who have poor quality of life may help in providing a deeper understanding on the issues these women face day in and day out.Design: Mixed method; (Sequential exploratory design) Method: The study comprises of two phases: (i) Quantitative phase: to determine the functional assessment– quality of life and cancer related fatigue in women with cervical cancer who are currently receiving sensitization chemotherapy; (ii) Qualitative phase: will adopt a nested sampling technique, for choosing women with cervical cancer with poor quality of life. The objective will be to describe the lived experiences of women with cervical cancer on sensitization chemotherapy. Qualitative data will be collected using an unstructured interview guide.Conclusion: This study will help to provide information on the quality of life and cancer related fatigue of women with cervical cancer on sensitization chemotherapy. This study would further help in exploring the lived experiences of women with poor quality of life.