Publication

Abstract : A descriptive study was done to identify the therapy related symptoms, severity of symptoms, self care management of therapy related symptoms among patients with cancer. Using convenience sampling technique 100 subjects with breast cancer, lung cancer and hematological cancer were selected from medical oncology, radiation oncology outpatient departments and chemotherapy day care unit of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi. A standardized tool (checklist for reporting symptoms and side effects) developed by Phoebe D Williams was used to collect data. The results revealed that most frequently reported symptoms were taste changes (92%), fatigue (89%), decreased appetite (78%), difficulty in sleeping (78%), loss of memory (75%), vomiting (72%) and hair loss (71%). Statistically significant association was found between age in years and pain, age in years and loss of hearing, education and loss of memory, occupation and chest pain, type of cancer and chest pain (p0.05). Highly significant association was found between age in years and shortness of breath, type of cancer and shortness of breath (p0.01). 71 (71%) of the subjects reported that fatigue was a very severity producing symptom. For fatigue, diet was used as a self care measure by 60% of patients. The severity of 80% of patients regarding taste changes ranged from moderate to severe, 68% were not using any self care measure for taste changes. Regarding decreased appetite, worst severity was reported by 50% of the subjects. For decreased appetite, 71% were following balanced diet as a self care measure.