Avaliação da qualidade de vida de pacientes oncológicos que utilizam dispositivos para infusão contínua de antineoplásicos

Abstract

Cancer affects the patient in an extensive way, reverberating in his quality of life. The technology in health, such as the use of continuous infusion device in the administration of antineoplastic aimed at favoring the treatment, positively reverberating in the welfare of the patient. The research aimed at evaluating the quality of life of the patient who use an antineoplastic continuous infusion device from the WHOQOL-bref scale; and the specific objectives were: to identify the domains of quality of life affected in the patients who use the antineoplastic continuous infusion device, as to the socio-demographic and clinical aspect; to compare the domains of quality of life of the patients in the first and in the third cycle of application of antineoplastics. It is a descriptive, exploratory, quantitative, longitudinal study of panel type, made from April to July 2013, with 28 patients under antineoplastic treatment with the use of continuous infusion device, of a health plan operator, in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. The data collection was made through home visits during the first and the third cycle of administration of antineoplastics, with the application of two questionnaires: socio-demographic and clinical; and the WHOQOL-bref evaluation of quality of life. The treatment of the data was made with the help of STATA statistics software. The Cronbach´s alfa coefficient was applied, for the evaluation of the internal consistence of the answers, the Wilcoxon test of average equality for paired data and the Chi-Squared test of linear tendency. The correlation of the domains was made through the coefficient of Spearman´s linear correlation. The following items predominated in the sample (n=28) were: women (53.6%), age range from 51 to 60 years (32.1%), married (60.7%), catholic (67.9%), working (71.5%). The predominant malign neoplasia was of colon and rectum (57.2%), with hepatic metastasis (53.6%). The most employed surgical treatment was colectomy (39.3%). The most used protocol was FOLFOX (67.9%), with palliative intention (57.1%). The most evident unwelcome effects were the gastrointestinal ones associated with fatigue (39.3%). The Cronbach´s alfa coefficient attested the reliability of the study. Evaluating the quality of life concerning the average of the global items and domains of the scale, the perception as to the quality of life was considered regular; and the satisfaction with the bad health, in both cycles of the treatment. As to the evaluation of the domains, the highest average was the one concerning the social relations and the lowest average was the psychological domain. The evaluation of the quality of life was seen as regular, in both cycles. The tool favors aspects related to independence, performance of daily and labor activities, but it is not exempt of a negative aspect, influencing the perception of the patients, by the fear of the unknown, the presence of a device in the daily life, discomfort related to moving. It was possible to conclude that no isolated factor will positively or negatively influence in the quality of life of oncological patients, independently of the moment lived. It is important to know the determinants in this sense, allowing the implementation of strategies to preserve the quality of life of this clientele.