A Study Of Quality Of Life In Head And Neck Cancer Patients And Its Influencing Factors

Objective: To build a scale of quality of life in head and neck cancer patients and to explore thequality of life in head and neck cancer patients and its related factors .Methods: The reliability and validity on the scale of quality of life in head and neck cancerpatients by us was tested through Scale analysis in SPSS. 92 patients with head and neck cancerwere investigated through the scale, and their quality of life and its influencing factors wereanalyzed.Results: (1) The test-retest coefficients ranged from 0.621 to 0.892. The split reliability (R) was0.821, and Cronbachαcoefficients ranged from 0.772 to 0.964. The value of quality of life bytested using the scale and that of evaluated by themselves were compared to show the validity ofthe scale. The correlation coefficients (r) was 0.895. (2) The QOL of patients with head andneck cancer was low, The total QOL value in head and neck cancer patients was a right-skewnessdistribution. Except the environment domain, the other four domains and total values were lowerthan 60. (3) The QOL of the patients was correlated with the patients' age, its correlationcoefficients (r) was 0.601. The QOL and its domains value of patients with early stage head andneck cancer was higher than those of the patients with medium-term and advanced cancer.Themultiple regression results showed the main factors influencing the QOL of the patients were ageand tumor staging, their standard partial regression coefficients were 0.557 and -0.337,respectively.Conclusions: The scale was well established in its reliability and validity. The QOL of patientswith head and neck cancer was low. The total QOL was a right-skewness distribution. It showedthat the influencing factors of the QOL in head and neck patients were age and tumor stage. Theeducation, marriage condition, type of tumor and occupation didn't influence the quality of lifeof the patients..