The use of complementary and alternative medicine of breast cancer patients and its effect on quality of life

Indroduction and Aim: This study was conducted to examine patients with breast cancer who used effect of Comlementary and Alternative Medicine on their quality of life of individuals with breast cancer. Material and Method: The study was descriptive and cross-sectional and was conducted with 265 individuals with breast cancer who applied in Istanbul Universty Oncology Institute Polyclinic/Clinics between 25.11.2020-01.04.2021. The data of the study were collected using Person Information Form, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Approaches Scale, World Health Organization Quality of Life Short Form. Mean, frequency, percentage, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U test, Bofferoni corrrected Kruskall-Wallis test were used in the analysis of the values. Results: The average age of the individuals participating in the study was56.81±16.58 and 85.3% were women. 97.4% of the participants stated that they use CAM, 51.9% of them used CAM for less than 1 year and 59.6% of the participants stated that they CAM usage from their relatives/neighbors. While the individuals participating in the study stated that they started to use the plants mostly Astragalus (48.3%) and Swedish syrup (47.5%); chicken meat (64.5%) and milk-milk products (59.6%) were tha most common foods has been used. No statistically significant difference was found in terms of age, gender, marital status, educational status, smoking/alcohol use, health insurance, total score and sub-dimenion scores of the CAM scale (p>0.05). No statistically significant difference was found in terms of physical well-being, social relations and environment-tr subdimension scores (p>0.05). Conclusion: As a result of the study it was determined that most of the individuals participating in the study used CAM and didn't receive information about their use of CAM from health professionals. Nurses should question and evaluate the use of CAM of individuals dignosed with breast cancer and the care procces should be planned accordingly. Keywords: Breast Cancer, Nursing, Quality of Life, Comlementary and Alternative Medicine