title: Patients' Perception of Information and Health-Related Quality of Life 1 Month After Discharge for Colorectal Cancer Surgery.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate how patients perceive information and their health-related quality of life 1 month after discharge for colorectal cancer surgery. The aim was also to compare these results with the first 2 weeks at home and to identify factors related to the perception of information. One hundred patients from three surgical clinics in the south of Sweden were included in this study. Perception of information was assessed with EORTC QLQ-INFO25, health-related quality of life with QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR38, classification of physical status with American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) and sense of coherence with SOC-13. Patients in this study did not receive enough information, and this had not changed significantly since the first 2 weeks at home. Only one subscale about disease information (p = 0.01) had improved since the first 2 weeks at home, while health-related quality of life had improved significantly during the same period. Poorer physical status and living alone were related to a perception of having received less information after discharge. Patients did not receive sufficient information to prepare them for the period at home after discharge, and their perception of information remained during the first month at home. Patients with a poorer preoperative physical status and who live alone constitute a vulnerable group in need of more information at discharge. This enhances the need to individualize the information and to offer multiple ways of accessing information after discharge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Box 157, 221 00, Lund, Sweden, maria.lithner@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lithner
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Jakobsson
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Rosemarie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klefsgård
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Palmquist
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D011788:Quality of Life; D013548:Sweden