Quality of Life of Colorectal Cancer Patients with Intestinal Stomas

Abstract

This descriptive, cross-sectional, epidemiological study set out to analyze the association between domains and facets of quality of life among colorectal cancer patients attending the Outpatient Care Program for Patients with Stomas run by the Health Department of the Federal District, in Brazil. It was used a non-probability sampling with the inclusion of 120 participants during the period from November 2009 to August 2011. Statistical analysis used version 20.0 of the SPSS Software as recommended by the World Health Organization. Statistical significance adopted was p-value <0.05. Quality of Life was assessed using the WHOQOL-bref questionnaire. The facets of the Physical, Social Relations and Environmental domains showed statistically significant (p<0.0001) correlation with the average scores. In the Psychological Domain, only the facet "positive feelings" was not statistically significant. The study pointed out that the creation of an intestinal stoma as part of neoplasm treatment leads to significant changes in the physical body and suffering associated to the newly imposed lifestyle, affecting physical and psychological aspects as well as social relations and the individuals' environment, thereby jeopardizing their quality of life in various dimensions. This knowledge is important insofar as it can contribute to the elaboration of holistic public policies, to the reorganization of care practices provided to health service users, and to the construction of education programs promoting health and rehabilitation specifically directed at meeting the real needs of this group.