Comparison of Quality of Life between Iranian and Australian Patients with Cancer: A Trans-Cultural Study

Comparison of the quality of life (QOL) of patients with cancer from two different cultures can provide valuable information about the possible positive and negative aspects of care and strategies for QOL improvement. However, no research study was found to compare QOL between Iranian and Australian patients with cancer. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare QOL between Iranian and Australian patients with cancer in several domains (physical, psychological, social, and environmental).
In this trans-cultural, descriptive study, data on QOL of 166 patients with cancer from 3 referral hospitals in Australia were compared with corresponding information of 198 Iranian patients with cancer from 1 referral hospital. Both groups of patients completed the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire.
Findings: The most common cancers in Australia were breast cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and leukemia, respectively. In Iran, leukemia, colorectal cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and breast cancer were the most common cancers, respectively. In all domains, mean QOL scores of Australian patients were significantly higher than Iranian patients.
The lower QOL of Iranian patients with cancer compared with Australian patients might encourage policy makers and health care providers to provide better infra-structures and resources and focus on improving cancer patients’ QOL.