| Background: Patients with advanced cancer often experience multiple coexisting symptoms during treatments. Identifying symptoms and patients' self-care strategies help health care professionals manage patients' symptoms effectively.;Purpose: The primary purpose of the study was to examine the relationship among cancer therapy-related symptom occurrence, and severity, health-related quality of life, selected variables related to the cancer condition (diagnosis/stage, type of treatments, length of time since start of treatment, number of comorbidities), and selected demographic variables (ethnicity, age, gender, marital status, education, economic status). Four secondary purposes were to examine (1) cancer patients' reported symptom occurrence and severity by ethnicity (African-American vs. Caucasian); (2) self-care methods used by ethnicity; (3) difference in symptom occurrence and severity by age group, adolescent-young adult (18--39 years) vs. older adults (40 years or older); and (4) self-care methods used by age groups.;Methods: This study used a descriptive correlational design. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 110 cancer patients receiving cancer treatments at one eastern U.S.A. site. Tools used included the: Demographic Form, Health Form, Karnofsky Performance/Functional Status, and Treatment/ Medication Profile, Therapy-Related Symptoms Checklist (TRSC), Health- Related Quality of Life Linear Analogue Self Assessment (HRQOL-LASA), the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C-30 (EORTC QLQ-C 30), and the Symptom Alleviation Self-Care Methods (SA-SCM). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.;Findings: Significant relationships were found on multiple linear regression analysis between TRSC symptom occurrence/severity and gender (t (103) = 2.07, p=.04), economic status [(Annual income> ;Clinical Implications: Oncology nurses are in an influential position to educate, motivate, and support patients and families to manage the patients' treatment-related symptoms effectively. |
