Determine the Symptom Intensities, Performance and Hopelessness Levels of Advanced Lung Cancer Patients for the Palliative Care Approach

Abstract

This research was conducted descriptively to determine the symptom intensities, performance and hopelessness levels of advanced lung cancer patients for the palliative care approach. The research sample consisted of 130 patients with advanced lung cancer, who were selected from 600 lung cancer populations in thoracic surgery and intensive care, outpatient chemotherapy, oncology in a university hospital in Turkey. Ethics Committee permission and the patients’ written consent was obtained. Study data were collected face to face between January 2020 and July 2020 using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, Karnofsky Performance and Beck Hopelessness Scale. The mean age of the patients was 62.68 ± 8.867, 72.3% were males, and 89.2% were not currently working. The most common symptom in the patients was found to be fatigue 5.46 ± 2.12, worsening in general health and well-being 5.69 ± 1.87, loss of appetite 5.40 ± 2.59, and total symptom score 47.17 ± 19.03. Feelings and expectations about the future 1.40 ± 1.66, loss of motivation 3.43 ± 2.41, hope 2.05 ± 1.75, and total score of hopelessness 7.41 ± 6.01. There was a positive correlation between the patients’ hopelessness level and their symptom burden, and a negative correlation was found with Karnofsky performance ( P < .05). A significant difference was found between the patients’ age, months since diagnosis, gender, education and employment status, stage of the disease, presence of metastases and analgesic use, and hopelessness scores ( P < .05). It was determined that the symptom burden of patients with advanced lung cancer increased and as their Karnofsky performance decreased, their hopelessness level further increased. Hopelessness scores are affected by the socio-demographic and disease variables of the patients.