Abstract

Siddiqua Aamir*, Nor Zuraida, Ee Chin Loh and Teng Seng Beng

The objective of this work is to determine the correlation between anxiety, depression, family functioning and their association with quality of life in palliative care cancer patients. A cross-sectional comparative study design was used. The study was conducted at the inpatient department of Faculty of Medicine, Department of Palliative Care, University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between August 2009 and August 2010 on the palliative care cancer patients. The sample consisted of 288 palliative care cancer patients selected through non-probability convenient sampling technique. Consecutive patients with advanced cancer under the care of palliative care services were screened. Anxiety, depression, family functioning and quality of life were assessed with hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), family adaptability, partnership, growth, affection, and resolve (APGAR) scale and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30) respectively. Data was collected and was analyzed using SPSS VERSION 13. A highly significant negative correlation was found between depression, anxiety and quality of life whereas family functioning and quality of life were positively correlated. In the present study, we detected that anxiety and depression were strongly associated with poor quality of life in palliative care cancer patients. The patients with severe anxiety and depression had dysfunctional family functioning and poor quality of life when compared to those palliative care cancer patients who had low or no anxiety and depression