Effects of Self Care Program on Quality of Life in Patients with Acute Leukemia Receiving Chemotherapy

The process of acute leukemia and adverse effects of chemotherapy are long lasting and substantially reduce the quality of life in patients. So, self-care programs should be developed to maintain independence and sense of well-being in patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a self-care educational program on quality of life (QOL) of patients with acute leukemia. A quasi-experimental study was conducted on 70 patients in Tabriz Hematology and Oncology Center. The patients were randomly divided in two groups of case and control. The Quality of Life /Cancer Survivors (QOL-CS) questionnaire was used to measure the quality of life. This questionnaire consists of four (physical, psychosocial, social and spiritual) domains. The patients completed the questionnaires two weeks after completion of first chemotherapy program. A self-care educational program was conducted and booklets were given to the patients of study group. All patients were followed for 4 months. The quality of life of both groups was again measured and compared. There was no significant difference between two groups in the items such as age, sex, level of education, income and occupation (P>0.05). There was no significant difference between QOL mean scores of both groups before the intervention, however the QOL mean in patient group (221.63 ± 37.36) improved significantly compared to control group (177.20 ± 21.82) (P= 0.000). Also, the overall QOL decreased in control group (P=0.000). Our results confirmed the positive effects of educational self-care programs on the QOL of patient with acute leukemia. Extensive educational and self-care programs along with long-term follow up are suggested.