The effect of disease perception on quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of disease perception on quality of life in patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The population of this descriptive study consists of patients being treated in the General Surgery Clinic of a training and research hospital. The data were collected between 23.02.2022- 23.02.2023 200 patients were included in the study. Data were collected using an information form which includes socio-demographic variables, Brief Illness Perception Scale (BIPS) and Quality of Life Index-Cancer Version-III (QOL-CV) forms. The data were evaluated in SPSS 26 program. Percentage, frequency, Mann Whitney U , Kruskal Wallis H tests were used. Relationships between variables were determined using Pearson and Speraman correlation tests. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of Illness Perception on the Score of Total Quality of Life. It was determined that the mean BIPS score was 41.55±2.54, and the mean Total Quality of Life score was 19.25±2.08. In the dimensions of health and mobility and the dimension of family, statistically significant relationships were found in relation to the gender of the participants, and undergraduate/masters educational stages compared to primary school, secondary school and high school educational stages. (p<0.05). A significant difference was found in the dimension of Mental Illness Perception and Illness Perception Scores in relation to the employment status of the participants (p<0.05). In relation to the income status, a significant difference was found in the dimension of Cognitive Illness Perception, total BIPS score, dimension of Health and Mobility , dimension of Social and Economy, dimension of Family and Total Quality of Life Score (p<0.05). It was determined that there was a negative statistically significant relationship between the age variable and the Social and Economy sub-dimension and the Total Quality of Life Score (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between BIPS and Quality of Life Index Cancer Adaptation-III scales (p>0.05). It was observed that the perception of illness did not affect the quality of life, but rather, the sociodemographic characteristics affected the quality of life. For this reason, it is recommended that nurses consider the sociodemographic factors affecting the quality of life while delivering care to patients.