Abstract
Objective The research aimed to identify symptom clusters of head and neck cancer(HNC) patients. Methods The M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory-Head & Neck (MDASI-H&N) was applied to measure symptoms of 247 HNC inpatients. Factor analysis was applied to identify symptom clusters. The Spearman correlation analysis was used to find the relationship of symptoms within symptom clusters. Results Five clusters were identified and the Cronbach's α coefficients of symptom clusters were 0.904, 0.928, 0.898, 0.815 and 0.662 respectively. Symptoms within clusters were all significantly interrelated to each other (r=0.393-0.856,P<0.01). Conclusions Symptoms of HNC patients tend to occur not in isolation, but in symptom clusters. Effective management can not only eliminate or alleviate the symptom burden of HNC patients, but also be cost-effective. Key words: Head and neck neoplasms; Symptom cluster; Symptom management
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