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Quality of Life of Patients with Cancer: A Determinant of the Quality of Life of Their Family Caregivers

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Abstract

Cancer disrupts the quality of life of both the patients and their family caregivers. This study attempted to explore the relationship between the quality of life of cancer patients and their family caregivers and to examine whether the quality of life, age, and gender of the patients contributed to the quality of life of their family caregivers. This correlational study involved 206 pairs of participants consisting of cancer patients and their corresponding family caregivers. The European Organization for the Treatment and Research of Quality of Life Questionnaire C-30 (version 3) was administered on the patients and the Caregiver Quality of Life-Cancer was administered on their family caregivers. The result revealed that social functioning, appetite loss, physical functioning, and gender of the patients contributed significantly to the quality of life of their family caregivers. Implications, shortcomings, and future directions were discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the hospital authorities to permit us to interact with our participants and provide us all the support. We also highly indebted to all the persons with cancer and their family caregivers for spending sufficient time with us. We also acknowledge the support and help received from the doctors and nurses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health Psychology, University of Hyderabad, Central University Campus PO, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, 500046, Telangana, India

    Gadiraju Padmaja, C. Vanlalhruaii, Suvashisa Rana,  Tiamongla & Swarajya Kopparty

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  1. Gadiraju Padmaja
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  2. C. Vanlalhruaii
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  3. Suvashisa Rana
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  4. Tiamongla
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  5. Swarajya Kopparty
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suvashisa Rana.

Ethics declarations

Approval from the Ethics Committee of the University where the authors are working and the appropriate hospital authorities have been obtained prior to starting of the study and hence, have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All persons have given their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study are omitted.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Padmaja, G., Vanlalhruaii, C., Rana, S. et al. Quality of Life of Patients with Cancer: A Determinant of the Quality of Life of Their Family Caregivers. J Canc Educ 32, 655–661 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1000-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-016-1000-y

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