title: Impact of medical intervention on stress and quality of life in patients with cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies have explored stress and quality of life in (QOL) patients with cancer, under several phases of disease and treatment. However, the impact of medical intervention on psychological parameters, such as stress and quality of life focusing on psychological intervention has been sparsely studied.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The main aim of the study was to examine the impact of medical intervention on the level of stress and quality of life of patients with lung, breast, and head and neck cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was carried out in hospital settings by following a one-group pre-test-post-test pre-experimental design.
  
  
  METHODS
  The quantitative data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics, paired t-tests, Cohen's d, and bar graphs accordingly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The effect of medical intervention was medium in case of reduction of overall stress in participants. So far as the components are concerned, the effect was high in case of psychosomatic complaints, medium in case of fear and information deficit, and low in case of everyday life restrictions. The effect of medical intervention in respect of the quality of life was found to be high in case of symptom scale (pain) and additional symptoms (constipation); medium in case of functional scale (emotional functioning, cognitive functioning) and symptoms scale (nausea, vomiting). In additional symptoms scale the effect of medical intervention was found to be medium in dyspnoea and appetite loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings revealed that though the medical intervention reduced stress and improved the quality of life, it was not instrumental in bringing down the stress to minimal level and enhancing the quality of life to optimum level. Therefore, the findings point to the need of inclusion of psychological intervention along with the medical intervention for minimizing stress and optimizing the quality of life of patients with cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Dharwad Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Vijay Prasad
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Barre
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Psychology, University of Hyderabad, Central University, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Gadiraju
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Padmaja
authors.affiliation: Consultant Haematologist and Medical Oncologist, Global Hospital, Khairathabad, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Ravi Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Psychology, University of Hyderabad, Central University, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Suvashisa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rana
keywords: Cancer; Medical intervention; Quality of life; Stress