The Relationship between Dignity Status and Quality of Life in Iranian Terminally Ill Patients with Cancer

Palliative care is an approach that has been used to care for terminally ill patients. The current study was performed to assess the association between the status of patient dignity and quality of life (QOL) in Iranian terminally ill patients with cancer.
This descriptive correlational study was conducted on 210 end‑stage cancer patients (102 men and 108 women) who were referred to Seyed Al‑Shohada Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, in 2015. To assess dignity status, we used the Patient Dignity Inventory. The Persian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire was used for QOL assessment.
There was a significant negative association between total dignity status and QOL scales. In addition, significant negative relationship was observed between dignity‑related domains (loss of worth sense: r = −0.50, P High dignity status in terminally ill patients was associated with higher QOL in terms of functional intactness and lower symptom distress. Further studies are necessary to shed light to our findings.