Abstract
Purpose: This study was designed to identify the relationship between quality of life, perceived health status, perceived susceptibility severity to recurrence of cancer and character of object in cancer patients to provide the basic data of effective nursing interventions. Method: The subject of this study was randomly chosen from the patients diagnosed of cancer and being hospitalised or receiving chemotherapy as outpatients, at a Division of Hemato-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine of a university hospital located in Seoul. The tool used in this study was a measurement tool for quality of life (${\alpha}=.829$), perceived health status (${\alpha}=.903$), and perceived susceptibility and severity for cancer recurrence (${\alpha}=.860$). The collected data were analysed using SPSS PC 12.0 Programme for real number, percentage, average, standard deviation, Pearson's Correlation, t-test and ANOVA, according to the purpose of this study. Result: 1) The score of quality of life in cancer patients was 3.64 point, perceived health status was 2.62 and perceived susceptibility severity to recurrence of cancer was 2.41. 2) There was a significant difference in the quality of life according to general characteristics, such as level of education, occupation, level of activity, pain, medication period, diagnosis, disease stage, purpose of medication, and recurrence. There was a significant difference in perceived health status according to age, level of activity, pain, diagnosis, purpose of medication, and recurrence. There was a significant difference in perceived susceptibility severity to recurrence of cancer according to age, level of education, and pain. 3) The cancer patients' quality of life showed significant correlation with perceived health status, perceived susceptibility severity to recurrence of cancer, pain, job, treatment purpose, relapse. The perceived health status showed significant correlation with perceived susceptibility severity to recurrence of cancer, pain, treatment purpose, relapse. The perceived susceptibility severity to recurrence of cancer showed significant correlation with pain. The relapse showed significant correlation with treatment purpose. The cancer patients' quality of life, perceived health status, and perceived susceptibility and severity for cancer recurrence, as confirmed above, showed differences according to the related factors of each subject, and it was also confirmed that those factors were significantly related with general characteristics. Upon these results, I suggest further studies on the factors that affect the cancer patients' quality of life.