The relationship of quality care to the quality of life of clients undergoing chemotherapy

The study used a descriptive correlational type of research. After adopting a quality of life questionnaire and adapting and modifying a quality of care tool, the modified questionnaire was validated and underwent pre-testing. The subjects of the study were clients who had regularly undergone chemotherapy in East Avenue Medical Center, Quezon City and De La Salle University Cancer Institute, Dasmarinas Cavite from July to August 2003. They were 14 years old and above, male or female, coherent and able to comprehend, shows willingness to participate in the research study, either in-patients or out patients and has one (1) of the five (5) cancers in the Philippines, namely, lung, breast, liver, cervix uteri and leukemia. The manner of sampling employed was the purposive sampling technique. The study concluded that, out of the 80 respondents, most of them belonged to the age group of 35-64 years old, female, married, reached college level, Catholic, had a monthly family income of P10,000 and below, either had history of cancer in the family or not, and underwent chemotherapy for less than six (6) months. The quality of care received by the clients undergoing chemotherapy in EAMC and DLSU Cancer Institute was very satisfactory. This shows that the quality of care from the nurses received by the clients undergoing chemotherapy is very satisfying without neglecting any of the four (4) domains, namely: physical, emotional, social and spiritual. The quality of life of the clients undergoing chemotherapy in EAMC and DLSU Cancer Institute had a higher quality of life. The quality of care of clients undergoing chemotherapy was not significantly related to age, civil status, educational attainment, monthly family income, history of cancer in the family and duration of treatment. The quality of care of clients undergoing chemotherapy was significantly related to religion. Clients need spiritual guidance and their expectations vary, which also resulted to different satisfaction levels of the respondents. The quality of life of clients undergoing chemotherapy was not significantly related to age, religion and duration of treatment. The quality of life of clients undergoing chemotherapy was significantly related to gender, civil status, educational attainment, monthly income and history of cancer in the family. The relationship between quality of care and quality of life of clients undergoing chemotherapy had very small positive correlation with the computed r-value of 0.21. Therefore, there was no significant relationship between quality of care and quality of life. Each individual perceives the quality of care differently and so it affects his or her quality of life indirectly