As the development of medical treatments and the increase in longevity of human life interface with the rising cost of medical care, the issue of quality of life appears to be coming to the forefront in understanding how health care decisions will best be realized for patients. Ethical questions relating to matters such as cost-effective economics, physician-assisted suicide, and quantity of life versus quality of life make the construct of quality of life even more important to ascertain.Quality of life can be an elusive construct to define as well as a difficult one to measure; however, recent literature has shown promising trends. Many quality-of-life measures have been developed in recent years. Initially these measures focused on life satisfaction in general. Then instruments for healthrelated concerns were developed. In the last decade such measures have become more specific as several have emerged to identify the quality-of-life experience regarding a particular illness, such as cancer. The current step is the development of measures for specific populations in oncology. Another trend is the move from objective to subjective measures of assessment. A third trend is movement toward a multidimensional perspective, with the latest addition being the inclusion of a spiritual domain.This project explored the unique experience of cancer patients with recurrent or metastatic disease by utilizing qualitative methodology to describe common themes which emerged from the data. Focus group sessions centered around defining quality of life and discussing the factors that diminish or enhance a meaningful quality of life. A unique contribution of this study was the involvement of the participants as co-researchers in the analysis of the data. Thirteen central themes were identified: control, attitude, humor, death, gratitude, faith, fear, pain, social comparison, social support, financial concerns, information and knowledge, and the focus group experience. The findings confirmed the recent trends in quality-of-life research--multidimensionality, subjectivity, and the uniqueness of a specific cancer population, those with recurrent or metastatic disease. With this elicitative data, future research could include the development of a quality-of-life instrument for this population of oncology patients with more advanced cancer. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/178640 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Minear, Mark D. |
| Contributors | Crose, Royda G. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | xii, 196 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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