Effect of Educative-Supportive Program on Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors (original) (raw)

Breastcancersurvivorsexperiencelong-termproblemsrelatedtotheirdiseaseand treatment, and this can decrease their quality of life. This quasi-experimental research aimedtostudytheeffectofanEducative-SupportiveProgramonqualityoflifeamong61 breast cancer survivors diagnosed for at least 5 years, at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai hospital, Thailand. Eligible participants were obtained by using purposive sampling and matchingofage,education,andyearofsurvivalwasconductedbeforegroupassignment. Participantswereassignedintothecontrolandtheexperimentalgroup,31inthecontrol and 30 in the experimental. Implementation of the Educative-Supportive Program was separated into 4-hour sessions, conducted 4 times continuously with 2 weeks interval. Participants' self-report instruments included, Demographic Data Form, Quality of Life: Breast Cancer Version Questionnaire and Self-management Questionnaire. Data were collected 3 times: before the program began (time 1), after the program (time 2) and 3 monthsaftertheprogramended(time3).Theresultsshowedthatmeanscoreofqualityof lifeintheexperimentalgroupforall 3timeswere6.43(SD=1.21), 6.30(SD=1.18)and5.86 (SD=1.39),respectivelywhilethoseincontrolgroupwere5.82(SD=1.22),5.51(SD=1.09) and5.41(SD=1.14),respectively.ByusingrepeatedmeasureANOVA,theresultsindicated nointeractionbetweentreatmenteffectandtimeeffect(FWilk'sLamba=.763,p=.471). Moreover, a significance differences in quality of life mean score between groups (F = 5.313, p= .025) and within groups (F =6.682, p= .002) were shown. Using Bonferroni criterions, the results revealed a significance difference of quality of life score between time1andtime3 intheexperimentalgroup(meandifference=.491,p=.001).Although theresultswerenotasexpected,theevidenceofintermediateoutcome-selfcareactivities in the experimental group was shown. Further development of Educative-Supportive ProgramsamongThaibreastcancersurvivorsisstillneeded,asitisanessentialstrategyto increasequalityoflife.