Self-care activities and quality of life in ovarian cancer survivors

This study is a non-experimental survey to determine if self-care activities and selected basic conditioning factors affect quality of life in ovarian cancer survivors. Three hypotheses were derived from the research question: (a) self-care activities are predictors of quality of life, (b) period of cancer survivorship is a predictor of quality of life, (c) selected basic conditioning factors are predictors of quality of life. The theoretical framework of this study combined the self-care theory of Orem (1985) with Ferrell's (Ferrell, 1996; Ferrell, Dow & Leigh, 1995) conceptual model of quality of life.; Participants were selected by random sampling. Ninety-five usable surveys were returned from a potential of 150 participants. Two established instruments, the Self-As-Carer Inventory and the Quality of Life-Cancer Survivor Instrument, in addition to a researcher developed demographic form, were used for data collection.; Few significant differences in descriptive characteristics were found in the sample. The majority of the women in the study were Caucasian, married, well educated, and had a family income of greater than {dollar}50,000 per year. Most of the women had stage three ovarian cancer when diagnosed and length of cancer survivorship was less than two years for 51 (53.6%) of the participants.; Hypotheses testing was accomplished using multiple regression. Findings supported self-care activities as a predictor of quality of life in ovarian cancer survivors. Age was a predictor of quality of life, but marital status, family income, and cancer stage were not. Self-care activities accounted for 19.7% of the variance in quality of life (p < .001). Age accounted for 6% of the variance in quality of life (p = <.05). Lack of participants in the extended period of cancer survivorship made analysis of Hypothesis 2 impossible.