91¿ì»îÁÖ

Cancer, according to the DOH, is the third leading cause of mortality in Filipinos. Cancers of the lung, breast, cervix, liver, colon and rectum, prostate, stomach, oral cavity, ovary and leukemia are the specific leading cancer killers in the Philippine today. Cancer is a major public health threat worldwide. It is a killer disease when not detected early and poses burden on patient, families, communities, sectors of the society, and the national development of the country. Because the diagnostic tests used to detect the occurrence of cancer remains to be limited, the disease only becomes apparent when it has already metastasized or spread to other organs of the body and because the cancer cells then generally become impossible to be removed surgically, the disease then becomes incurable. The diagnosis of cancer may have a wide ranging impact on the patient’s lifestyle and quality of life both positively and negatively. The study will obtain information on the quality of life of patients with end-stage cancer as to their physical, social, emotional, functional, and spiritual well-being. The main age of all study patients is 45.61 years old (range 18 to 72 years old) including 11 (29%) men and 27 (71%) women. The study has shown that incurable cancer is impacted the patients’ quality of life. The study patients share a strong correlation with each other. This indicates that their physical, spiritual, social/family, and functional well-being share the same characteristics as well as their additional concerns (palliative care and fatigue). However, the quality of life of the study patients differs largely on their emotional well-being. In part, this is because emotional well-being (EWB) is a term that is subjective in interpretation. Patients have poor physical well-being, where they suffer severe physical symptoms brought about by cancer. Patients state that in order to achieve an optimal quality of life they should be free from physical symptoms, i.e. loss of appetite, weight loss, nausea, dyspnea, constipation, and dry mouth and throat where these symptoms contributed to an increased feeling of fatigue. Moreover, patients reported that social issues such as being accepted as usual by family and friends are critical to help them improve their quality of life. Being with the family and friends increased the feeling of being a part of a normal and social life. The study may be useful to healthcare professionals who care for patients at the end of life regardless of setting and hopefully providing a deeper understanding of those patients and their families’ who have a need to talk and share experiences of quality of life when facing death.