title: Quality of life from the perspective of the palliative care patient in a resource-poor community in South Africa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Quality of life is an ill-defined term, as it means different things to different people. Quality of life has been well researched, especially with respect to people with cancer, but not necessarily from the perspective of the patient, and also, not in Third World, resource-poor countries. The objective of this study was to explore quality of life from the perspective of palliative care patients managed at a palliative care clinic serving a resource-poor community in Tshwane, South Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  An exploratory, qualitative phenomenological study was conducted. The target population for this study was all patients managed at a palliative care clinic serving a resource-poor community in Tshwane. Self-report data were gathered by means of in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed using a template analysis style as well as content analysis using open coding. Data analysis was done concurrently with data gathering. Data saturation was reached after 10 interviews (n = 10).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three themes arose from the data: factors that had a positive influence on quality of life, factors that had a negative influence on quality of life, and experience of quality of life. Work played the most important role in quality of life whereas only one participant linked symptom control with quality of life. Experiencing symptoms, rejection, and stigmatization had a negative influence on quality of life. Friends and religion played a significant role and added to quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Life was a daily struggle for survival. Poverty was so overwhelming that quality of life was primarily measured in terms of the ability to buy food and other basic commodities.
authors.affiliation: Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. kotievr@vodamail.co.za
authors.forename: Jacoba J M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Jansen van Rensburg
authors.forename: Johanna E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maree
authors.forename: Corrien
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Belkum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012067:Religion; D057566:Self Report; D057545:Social Stigma; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires