Quality of life and related factors among the women undergoing mastectomy

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and 81% of therapeutic surgery performed for breast cancer in Iran is mastectomy. Following mastectomy, the patients suffer from many problems which lead to several disorders and decrease in their quality of life (QOL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 105 breast cancer patients who underwent mastectomy, selected with a convenient sampling method. A questionnaire containing three parts was used to collect data. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 14 using descriptive and analytical statistical methods. RESULTS: Spearman test showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between QOL and education level and also fatigue. Moreover, Spearman test indicated a statistically significant correlation between age and the mental dimension of QOL. There was no significant relationship between QOL with marital and employment status. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the findings, we can suggest that nurses should be educated about the factors affecting QOL. They can receive the necessary knowledge in various areas such as meeting the patients, optimum management of patients’ problems, improvement of their health, and finally help to increase the cancer patients’ QOL.