A Prospective Evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life of Cancer Patients Receiving Day and Home Care Services in Greece

The objectives of this study were to examine the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in cancer patients compared with general population norms and to assess the HRQoL of cancer patients who receive home care compared to patients who receive day care services in Greece. Methods. In total, 113 patients with cancer were enrolled in the present study which was conducted in two specialized hospitals. The Health Overview SF-36 scale (SF-36) was employed to measure HRQoL. Questionnaires were filled out with personal interviews, from July to August 2011. Internal consistency reliability was tested via Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Parametric t-test and ANOVA were used for comparisons. Results. Of all participants, 38 patients received home care services and 75 patients received day care services. The SF-36 results showed that all patients presented low mean values in Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS), 38.4 and 35.9 respectively. Cancer patients’ SF-36 scores differed significantly from those of an age- and sex-matched sample from the Greek normative population, except for Role Emotional. Moreover, cancer patients, who received day care services, responded with a higher mean value in Physical Function and Bodily Pain, than patients who received home care (p ≤ 0.05). Provision of day care services seems to be quite important for patients with cancer, especially for their Physical Function. Conclusion. It is important for patients to receive a combination of day care and home care services, although there is a need to empower community nurses and care givers towards this direction through continuous training and new technology tools.