[Trajectory of fatigue, quality of life and physical symptoms in cancer patients receiving radiotherapy].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this longitudinal prospective study was to assess changes in fatigue and quality of life for a 6-week course of radiotherapy.


METHODS
A descriptive and longitudinal design was used to this study. Twenty-three subjects receiving radiotherapy from a radiotherapy clinic of a general hospital completed the questionnaires. Fatigue was measured using Lee's scale(1999) and quality of life using Yang's scale(2002) weekly for 6 weeks.


RESULTS
Fatigue significantly increased(F=6.043, p=.000), and quality of life significantly decreased(F=3.938, p=.003) and physical symptoms also significantly increased(F=2.432, p=.039) during a 6-week radiotherapy. Multiple regression analysis revealed that fatigue at the first week and physical symptoms at the 6th week were the significant affecting variables(60.1% of the variance) on fatigue. And 63.2% of the variance in quality of life was explained by quality of life and fatigue at the first week and body weight change for 6 weeks radiotherapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on these results, the fatigue and quality of life at the beginning time of radiotherapy have a lasting impact throughout the course of treatment. It suggests that nurses provide patients with information about the occurrence of fatigue during radiotherapy and the practical methods of intervening physical symptoms.
Department of Nursing, Dankook University, Chungnam, Korea. hanul96@dankook.ac.kr
Young-Hee
YH
Yang