Malathi G Nayak

Awareness and Impact of Education on Breast Self Examination Among College Going Girls

Introduction: Breast cancer accounts for 19-34% of all cancer cases among women in India. There is high mortality due to late stage diagnosis as patients usually present at an advanced stage because of lack of awareness and nonexistent breast cancer screening programs. Early detection and prompt treatment offer the greatest chance of long-term survival and breast self-examination (BSE) seems to be a important viable optional substitute for early detection of cancer. Objectives: 1) To assess the level of knowledge of degree college female students on BSE. 2) To determine the effectiveness of planned teaching program among degree college female students on BSE. 3) To find the association between pretest knowledge and selected demographic variables. Materials and Methods: Pre-experimental one group pretestpost-test design was carried out among 40 degree female students by using cluster sampling method from selected colleges of Udupi district. Results: The data analyzed showed that majority (52%) of them was in the age group of 18-19 years and 72% of them were had average knowledge on BSE in the pretest score. Out of 40 participants only one student was performing BSE occasionally. Conclusions: Awareness regarding breast self examination among young generations is useful and it is the most important viable tool for early detection.

Quality of Life of Family Caregivers of Patients with Advanced Cancer

Cancer is a major public health problem of the world. Diagnosis of cancer has a significant impact not only on patient, but also on Their family caregivers. Therefore cancer has a substantial impact on both patients and families.Objectives of the study were to assess the Quality of Life (QOL) among caregivers and to find the association between mean score of quality of life of family car egivers with selected variables. A cross sectional study was done among 399 family caregivers those who are providing care to the hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. A non probability purposive sampling was used to select family caregivers by using structu red and validated questionnaire on quality of life.Data were collected by interview technique from caregivers. Result shows that majority of family caregivers were in the age group of 20- 40yrs (53.6%), most of the family members had to stop working, and most of them lost their savings. Majority of the family caregivers expressed that ‘financial burden’ had negative influence on the quality of life. The mean Quality Of Life was 63.36 and SD was 15.73.The present study suggests that to improve QOL of car egivers, measures hould be taken to decrease the economic burden that cancer places on patient’s family. It also revealed that increasing the self- confidence of family care givers in managing cancer pain is vital to the quality of life of both the patient and caregiver.

Symptoms experienced by cancer patients and barriers to symptom management

Background: People living with cancer experience wide variety of symptoms. If symptoms are not managed well, it may hamper an individuals ability to continue his or her activities of daily life. Treatment of symptoms relieves suffering and improves the rate of recovery as well as the quality of life. Objectives: To assess the symptoms of suffering among cancer patients and to identify the perceived barriers to their symptom management. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 768 cancer patients selected by stratified sampling with a proportionate selection from each stratum. Data were collected from cancer patients by interview technique using structured validated questionnaire. Results: Majority of the samples (30.2%) belonged to the age group of 51–60 years, most of them were diagnosed with head and neck cancer (40.1%) and 57.7% had stage III disease. The majority of the patients studied had pain (77%), tiredness (96.5%), disturbed sleep (96.4%), weight loss (63.3%), and irritability (85.7%). Most of the patients had lack of appetite (89.4%), feeling of sadness (96.6%), worry (94.5%), and feeling of nervousness (82.8%). Majority of the patients had some misconception regarding symptoms, that is, increasing pain signifies disease progression (92.7%), medicine to control pain may weaken the immune system (89.9%) and pain is inevitable for cancer patients (78.5%). Seventy-seven percent of samples reported that the anxiety or depression is expected after the diagnosis of cancer. Conclusion: This study provides an overview of symptoms among cancer patients and barriers experienced by them.

Providing Palliative Care for a dying teen at home: Perspectives and challenges

Adolescents and young adults with cancer are a heterogeneous group. Management of this special group requires a broad-based interdisciplinary clinical team, which should include palliative care (PC), psychology, social work, oncology, and nursing representatives. The function of PC is to provide impeccable pain and other symptom control and to coordinate care as the disease progresses. The cure rate of cancer in adolescents is high but between 10% and 40% of them will develop incurable disease depending on tumor type and prognostic factors. PC in adolescents should also take care of the specific physical and psychosocial developmental changes in this age group. A 16-year old boy suffered with incurable disease and team has provided the PC at the door step taken as a case study.

Quality of life among cancer patients

Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of death. People living with cancer experience a variety of symptoms. Quality of life (QOL) is a major concern of patients with terminal cancer. Symptoms affect their QOL. Management of symptoms improves distress and QOL. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the QOL among cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A survey was conducted among 768 cancer patients selected by a convenient sampling technique. Data was collected from cancer patients by interview technique using structured and validated interviewed schedule. Results: Out of 768 cancer patients, 30.2% patients were in the age group of 51–60 years, majority with head–and-neck cancer (40.1%), and 57.7% had stage III disease. QOL of majority of patients was influenced by their symptoms. 82.3% of them had low QOL scores. Conclusion: Cancer patients experienced many symptoms that affected their QOL. There is a need to develop interventions for effective management of symptoms that will empower the patients to have a greater sense of control over their illness and treatment and to improve the QOL.

Clinical audit on "evaluation of special issues in adolescents with cancer treated in an adult cancer setting": an Indian experience.

Background: Adolescents with cancer form a distinct group with special care needs. These patients are often cared in an adult supportive care setting where the special needs of adolescents are not met. Aim: To identify special issues in adolescents with cancer and to determine whether special needs of adolescents are met in an adult cancer setting Materials and Methods: 10 adolescents with cancer were randomly chosen and retrospectively studied for physical, psychoscocial and emotional issues using an internally validated tool. Results: Pain was the most common physical symptom seen in all 10 patients. 3 out of 10 patients were involved in decision making, 3 out of 10 patients had identity issues and 4 out of 10 patients had peer group isolation issues. Only 3 were aware of diagnosis and none were aware of treatment outcomes and mortality. 4 out of 10 had anxiety and depression and 3 out of 10 had body image issues. Sexuality, spiritual and existential issues were not explored in any of the patients studied. Conclusion: The outcomes of the study were in an adult oncology setting there was a poor recognition of key adolescent issues such as sexuality, body image, identity and peer group isolation. The psychosocial supports to these adolescents were minimal and spiritual and existential issues were not explored. The inferences drawn from this study suggested a need for multidisciplinary team approach oriented in handling adolescent care needs and preferably to have a dedicated space that will help the peer group to interact, bond and cope better with the illness.