P2-261 - Assessment of Psychosocial and Functional Distress of cancer Patients in Developing country

Abstract

Introduction: A diagnosis of cancer often brings up one of people's worst health fears. Many cancer patients have the idea that it is the end of life. The goal of this study was to understand the psychosocial and functional impact of diagnoses of cancer in patients of developing country like Nepal.Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 170 cancer patients (response rate 80.9%) attending Out Patients Department, Day care and in patient was of B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Nepal. Distress score, spiritual/religious concerns, Practical, Family, emotional and physical variables of the patients were evaluated using NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT). Verbal consent were obtained from patients participating in the study. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.Results: Among respondents number of female (57.3) was higher than male (43.3). Among the Patients evaluated 76.3% of patients were aware of their disease, treatment and prognosis. More than half of the patients reported to experience worry (61.5%), pain (60.9%), spiritual/religious concerns (60.1%), fatigue (58%), insurance/financial problem (57.1%) and sadness (50%). DT score ranged from 0-10 among which 82.4% of patients had DT score of ≥ 4, with largest number of patients reporting distress score of 7 (22.8%). Further the above mentioned psychosocial problems were correlated with DT, and the result showed pain, sadness, worry and spiritual/religious concerns were significantly associated with DT (p<0.05), whereas insurance/financial and fatigue had no association with DT.Conclusion: Our study suggests that cancer patients living in developing country like Nepal have psychosocial issues and that directly have impact on the distress of patients and thus these patients are in need of psychological, social and emotional support to cope up with their disease. Introduction: A diagnosis of cancer often brings up one of people's worst health fears. Many cancer patients have the idea that it is the end of life. The goal of this study was to understand the psychosocial and functional impact of diagnoses of cancer in patients of developing country like Nepal. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 170 cancer patients (response rate 80.9%) attending Out Patients Department, Day care and in patient was of B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Nepal. Distress score, spiritual/religious concerns, Practical, Family, emotional and physical variables of the patients were evaluated using NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT). Verbal consent were obtained from patients participating in the study. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Results: Among respondents number of female (57.3) was higher than male (43.3). Among the Patients evaluated 76.3% of patients were aware of their disease, treatment and prognosis. More than half of the patients reported to experience worry (61.5%), pain (60.9%), spiritual/religious concerns (60.1%), fatigue (58%), insurance/financial problem (57.1%) and sadness (50%). DT score ranged from 0-10 among which 82.4% of patients had DT score of ≥ 4, with largest number of patients reporting distress score of 7 (22.8%). Further the above mentioned psychosocial problems were correlated with DT, and the result showed pain, sadness, worry and spiritual/religious concerns were significantly associated with DT (p<0.05), whereas insurance/financial and fatigue had no association with DT. Conclusion: Our study suggests that cancer patients living in developing country like Nepal have psychosocial issues and that directly have impact on the distress of patients and thus these patients are in need of psychological, social and emotional support to cope up with their disease.