Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.24141/1/1/2/3
The quality of life after laryngectomy
Ivana Crnković
orcid.org/0000-0002-5973-731X
; University of Applied Health Sciences Zagreb
Melita Rukavina
orcid.org/0000-0001-7439-1233
; University of Applied Health Sciences Zagreb
Karlo Ostrogonac
; University of Applied Health Sciences Zagreb
Abstract
The quality of life is an important evaluation instrument of the rehabilitation process of oncological patients and, thus, of persons who have undergone laryngectomy. The goal of this research was to investigate the degree of the quality of life in persons after laryngectomy as a whole and by domains, to check whether there are any differences in the quality of life of persons before and after laryngectomy as a whole and by domains and to examine the factors influencing the self-evaluation of the quality of life of persons after laryngectomy. The study included 35 respondents who have undergone total laryngectomy. An appropriate sample was taken from the Zagreb region, i.e. from the University Hospital for Tumours of the University Hospital Centre Sestre Milosrdnice in Zagreb and from the Clinic for Tumours of the University Hospital Centre Zagreb. For the purpose of this research, a Personal wellbeing Index was used for the evaluation of the quality of life and wellbeing before and after the laryngectomy, as well as EORTC QLQC30 Questionnaire version 3.0 for the self-evaluation of the quality of life.
The results of the research indicate that the perceived quality of life of persons who have undergone laryngectomy does not deviate from the values which can be found in the healthy population. It was established that the respondents evaluated their quality of life before the intervention as significantly better. The patients who were included in the rehabilitation process and who engaged in physical activity on average evaluated their quality of life as better both before and after the intervention. The symptoms most significantly linked with the sense of wellbeing, i.e. quality of life, were fatigue and gastrointestinal disorders, while the global health scale has been linked only to the quality of life after the intervention.
Keywords
quality of life; persons who have undergone laryngectomy; rehabilitation process; self-evaluation of factors influencing the quality of life after laryngectomy
Hrčak ID:
162914
URI
Publication date:
8.12.2015.
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