Review Article

Quality of Life among Female Cancer Survivors in Africa: An Integrative Literature Review Rhoda Suubi Muliira, Anna Santos Salas, Beverley O’Brien Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Corresponding author: Rhoda Suubi Muliira, PhD, RN, MN College of Health Science, Department of Nursing, University of Buraimi P.O. Box 890, Al Buraimi, Oman E‑mail: [email protected] Received: August 05, 2016, Accepted: October 24, 2016

ABSTRACT Quality of life (QOL) has been studied extensively among cancer populations in high income countries where cancer care resources are available to many. Little is known concerning the QOL of cancer groups residing in Africa where resources can be scarce. The integrative review of the literature explored and critically examined studies that had addressed QOL in female cancer survivors in Africa. The extent to which QOL studies incorporated a cultural perspective was also examined. Research studies published between 2005 and 2015 were retrieved from five databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, ProQuest dissertations and Theses full text, and GlobalHealth. Primary qualitative or quantitative studies regardless of sample size or setting were included. A total of 300 studies were identified and 28 full text studies were retrieved and assessed for eligibility. Eight studies met inclusion criteria. Factors that affected the QOL were socio-demographic especially age, education,

employment, income and residence; illness-related factors such as having advanced cancer and multiple symptoms; treatmentrelated factors associated with surgery and radiotherapy; psychosocial factors such as support and anxiety; and cultural factors including fatalism and bewitching. Practice implications entail increasing awareness among nurses and allied healthcare providers of the potential effects on QOL of a cancer diagnosis and treatment of female cancers such as pain, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, hormonal and body image changes, anxiety, depression and cultural practices. Failure to identify and deal with these may result in poor treatment adherence, low selfesteem, and ultimately poor QOL. Key words: Africa, breast neoplasm, endometrial neoplasm, ovarian neoplasm, quality of life, uterine cervical neoplasm, vaginal neoplasm, vulva neoplasm

Introduction Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide and accounts annually for 8.2 million deaths (13%).[1] More Access this article online Quick Response Code:

6

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Website: www.apjon.org

For reprints contact: [email protected]

DOI: 10.4103/2347-5625.199078

Cite this article as: Muliira RS, Salas AS, O'Brien B. Quality of life among female cancer survivors in Africa: An integrative literature review. Asia Pac J Oncol Nurs 2017;4:6-17.

© 2017 Ann & Joshua Medical Publishing Co. Ltd | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Muliira, et al.: Quality of Life among African Female Cancer Survivors

than 60% of all cancers occur in middle‑ and low‑income countries, including Africa. These regions alone account for 70% of the world’s cancer‑related deaths.[1] Breast and cervical cancers are among the five most common cancers diagnosed among women worldwide.[1] Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Africa, with an incidence rate of about 40/100,000.[2] Breast and cervical cancer can be detected at an early stage with timely access to screening and diagnostic facilities.[1] High breast cancer incidence and mortality rates have been reported in African countries such as the South African Republic and Algeria.[2] Cervical cancer is another frequently diagnosed gynecological cancer in Africa and the leading cause of death of women in Eastern Africa, accounting for about 12% of the total new cancer cases and 10% of cancer deaths in Eastern Africa.[2] Eastern Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique report the highest cervical cancer rates. Survival rates after a diagnosis of a female cancer are much lower in Africa than in Western countries.[2] The 5‑year survival rates for breast and other gynecological cancers in Africa are 

Quality of Life among Female Cancer Survivors in Africa: An Integrative Literature Review.

Quality of life (QOL) has been studied extensively among cancer populations in high income countries where cancer care resources are available to many...
674KB Sizes 0 Downloads 11 Views