Health-related quality of life in women with breast cancer in Korea: do sociodemographic characteristics and time since diagnosis make a difference?

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To describe whether levels of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) differ by sociodemographic characteristics and time since breast cancer diagnosis in women in Korea.

DESIGN: A descriptive, cross-sectional study of women with breast cancer.

SETTING: An outpatient clinic of one large hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

SAMPLE: A convenience sample of 244 women with breast cancer after mastectomy.

METHODS: Study participants completed sociodemographic characteristics and HRQOL questionnaires. Medical charts were reviewed to determine time since breast cancer diagnosis.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Sociodemographic characteristics (age, marital status, employment status, education, monthly household income, and religion), time since diagnosis, and HRQOL.

FINDINGS: The psychological well-being domain scored the lowest among domains of HRQOL. Women who are younger, married, unemployed, highly educated, or religious, with higher monthly household income or with greater than one year elapsed time since diagnosis, had higher HRQOL.

CONCLUSIONS: Study findings will be useful to establish priorities in planning nursing interventions to enhance HRQOL in care of women with breast cancer.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Nursing interventions can be provided to Korean women with breast cancer who are not religious, who are older, single or widowed, or employed, with lower education level, with lower monthly household income, or with one year or less elapsed time since breast cancer diagnosis.