Treatment at a day-care hospice of patients after mastectomy for breast cancer improves their physical and mental health

Samir Husić

Abstract


Objective. The aim of this research was to establish whetherthree-month treatment by a multidisciplinary team at a daycarehospice improves the physical and mental health (PMH)of patients after mastectomy for breast tumours and after thecompletion of oncological therapy. Patients and methods. Bya prospective study undertaken on the palliative care ward ofthe University Clinical Centre in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovinafrom May 2006 to May 2007, 35 patients were surveyedwho had undergone mastectomy for breast tumours and hadcompleted specific oncological therapy. The treatment by theteam at the day-care hospice lasted three months. For an assessmentof PMH a SF-36 scale was used. In the statistics weused the even T-test and the Wilcox test. The difference wasseen to be significant at p < 0.05. Results. The overall physicalhealth of the patients examined after treatment at the daycarehospice was taken to be 0.55 (0.31 – 0.86) points and wasstatistically significantly better than the test before treatmentat 0.42 (0.27- 0.83; p < 0.0001). Improvement was achieved inthe sub-scales of general health and physical function. Treatmentin the day-care hospice of the patients examined alsoled to improvement of their overall mental health, especiallyon the sub-scale of social functioning and mental health.Conclusion. The research established the improvement of allaspects of mental health and most aspects of physical healthin the patients after three months’ treatment by a multidisciplinaryteam at the day-care hospice.

Keywords


Physical and mental health, Breast cancer, Hospice

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References


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