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Loneliness of oncology patients at the end of life

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Abstract

Background

Terminal stage cancer patients experience anxiety about death and pessimism about the future. They usually fear that as they approach death, their pain will increase, they will lose their reputation, and they will be alone. However, few studies have evaluated the loneliness that these cancer patients feel. This was a cross-sectional and definitive study that evaluated the feeling of loneliness in terminal cancer patients.

Methods

In total, 55 cancer patients with terminal cancer who were hospitalised for palliative therapy between 14 November 2014 and 14 January 2015 in the Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital were included in the study. The patients were given a questionnaire form that included sociodemographic properties and University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale to collect data.

Results

Loneliness was detected as 53.61 ± 9.29. There was no relationship between sociodemographic data and loneliness (p > 0.05). Regression analysis revealed that family support and sharing of emotional stress were related to the level of loneliness (p < 0.05). More than half of the patients needed psychological support because they could not handle the situation.

Conclusions

Terminal stage cancer patients felt lonely in general, and patients with a lack of visitors and family support experienced a higher level of loneliness.

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Acknowledgments

This study was performed at Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital and presented as a graduate student thesis. We would like to thank the participating patients.

Author contributions

All of the listed authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript.

All of the authors have met all of the following criteria for authorship, thereby accepting public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content:

  1. 1.

    Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data

  2. 2.

    Drafting the article or critically revising it for important intellectual content

  3. 3.

    Approval of the version to be published and all subsequent versions

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine Nursing, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey

    Yasemin Çıracı & Nesrin Nural

  2. Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ziya Saltürk

Authors
  1. Yasemin Çıracı
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  2. Nesrin Nural
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  3. Ziya Saltürk
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Correspondence to Yasemin Çıracı.

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Çıracı, Y., Nural, N. & Saltürk, Z. Loneliness of oncology patients at the end of life. Support Care Cancer 24, 3525–3531 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3159-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3159-5

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