title: Changes in daily activities of cancer patients after diagnosis: how do canadian and Iranian patients perceive the change?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Being diagnosed with cancer has major impacts on a patient's life. This study was conducted to explore how specific daily activities of patients change as a result of cancer diagnosis or its treatment and how these patients feel about such changes.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Cancer patients referred to our clinics and by completing a questionnaire, they reported their daily activities and how they changed after diagnosis. A total of 201 patients in Canada and 167 patients in Iran completed the questionnaire. The research setting was the outpatient cancer clinics of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada (February to April 2008) and Imam Reza Hospital and Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, Iran (March to August 2008).
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 40 percent of the patients reported changes after the diagnosis in at least 8 out of 22 daily activities listed in the questionnaire. While a negative perception towards the changes was more common, some patients also perceived some changes as positive. More than half of the participants (56.9%) who were employed at the time of diagnosis experienced changes in the amount or type of their paid work after being diagnosed with cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The impact of a cancer diagnosis and treatment on a patient's daily activities is drastic. There is a need to provide support and interventions to help patients maintain daily activities they need and/or like. Further studies are needed to better understand the nature of such interventions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shahidi
authors.affiliation: Surgical Oncology Research Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran ; Cancer Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taghizadeh-Kermani
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Statistics, Hospital Research Management Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmood Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Gohari
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ghavamnasiri
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Fahimeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Khoshroo
authors.affiliation: Women's Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pourali
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada ; Depts. of Oncology and Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: S Robin
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Cohen
keywords: Activities of daily living; Early detection of cancer; Neoplasms