How The Women With Breast Cancer Describe Her Quality of Life : A Qualitative Content Analysis

Introduction: Breast cancer is a prevalent cancer in Iranian women, ranking first among malignancies and fifth among causes of death. The use of standardized QoLinstruments is often criticized as they consist of pre-determined areas making it complex to capture areas most related for each individual. Therefore, it was decided to further explore QoL of the women with breast cancer by using an individualized method and compare the results with quantitative data. Methods: In a previous study, a standardized QoL instrument, the EORTC QLQ-C30 was used by the women with breast cancer (n=162) before final diagnosis and 6 months later. In this descriptive and prospective study, the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Direct Weighting (SEIQoLDW) as an individualized method was applied for the same patients(n=162) to identify which areas in life are important to their QoL in two time points. A qualitative content analysis approach was conducted to data analysis. Results: The quantitative results showed that physical and role function, fatigue, and financial difficulties were rated worse areas by the women with breast cancer during the first 6 months in comparison to the controls. But, the results of qualitative content analysis were different and special in some areas. Discussion and Conclusions: The use of standardized instruments for QoL generally focuses on negative areas of QoL as an outcome of the disease and impairments whereas positive areas may be ignored. Therefore, applying both quantitative and qualitative approach can be useful for the assessment of the patients.

Keywords:

Breast Cancer , Quality of Life , SEIQoL-DW , EORTC QLQ-C30