Observational Study on Patient’s Satisfactions and Quality of Life (QoL) Among Cancer Patients Receiving Treatment with Palliative Care Intent in a Tertiary Hospital in Malaysia

The main objective of palliative treatment for cancer patients has been to maintain, if not improve, the qualityof life (QoL). There is a lack of local data on satisfaction and QoL among cancer patients receiving palliativetreatment in Malaysia. This study covers patients with incurable, progressive cancer disease receiving palliativetreatment in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur, comparing the different components of QoL and correlationswith patient satisfaction. A cross-sectional survey using Malay validated SF36 QoL and PSQ-18 (Short Form)tools was carried out between July 2012 -January 2013 with 120 cancer patients receiving palliative treatment,recruited into the study after informed consent using convenient sampling. Results showed that highest satisfactionwere observed in Communication Aspect (50.6±9.07) and the least in General Satisfaction (26.4±5.90). TheMental Component Summary (44.9±6.84) scored higher when compared with the Physical Component Summary(42.2±7.91). In this study, we found that patient satisfaction was strongly associated with good quality of lifeamong cancer patients from a general satisfaction aspect (r=0.232). A poor significant negative correlation wasfound in Physical Component (technical quality, r=-0.312). The Mental Component showed there was a poornegative correlation between time spent with doctor (r=-0.192) and accessibility, (r=-0.279). We found that feelingat peace and having a sense of meaning in life were more important to patients than being active or achievinggood physical comfort. More studyis needed to investigate patients who score poorly on physical and mentalcomponent aspects to understand their needs in order to achieve better cancer care.