Assessment of the quality of life of patients with breast and cervical cancer

Abstract

The location of the tumor and the type of selected treatment are factors that determine the quality of life of patients. The incidence of neoplasms increases every year, with more and more patients successfully undergoing treatment processes but also struggling with the immediate and delayed effects of the disease and the treatment applied. A diagnosis of cancer is a critical situation in everyone’s life, which may disturb their sense of agency, stability, and safety. Cancer significantly affects the lives of both patients and their families, and a diagnosis confirming cancer may disturb the sense of control over one’s own health. According to numerous studies on the quality of life, depending on the location of the neoplasm, the reaction of patients to the course of treatment may have various psychological effects that will have an impact on the process of adaptation to the disease and psychosocial functioning. Neoplastic disease, depending on its location, may affect the assessment of one’s own body and function in the sexual sphere. The location of the tumor not only causes changes in patients’ bodies and health options related to their physicality but also affects their coping strategies, self-perception, sense of influence on one’s own health, and the quality of social relations. The objective of this article is to assess the differences in the health-related quality of life among women suffering from breast and cervical cancers.