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Biomedical subjects

F Kakikawa

Publications and source records attributed to F Kakikawa.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Results of a qualitative and field study using the WHOQOL instrument for cancer patients.

The main purpose of the study was to evaluate quality of life (QOL) among cancer patients using the WHOQOL-100 instrument and to see if any significant differences were seen in cancer stages, treatment status and prognosis. This study consisted of two parts; qualitative and quantitative. For the qualitative study, two focus groups were conducted by medical professionals to establish the applicability of the WHOQOL instrument in evaluating the QOL of cancer patients, but most participants were negative about using a generic instrument such as WHOQOL. For the quantitative study, 197 cancer patients (average age 55.86) from eight medical centers using the WHOQOL instrument, in addition to each patient's information sheet filled in by their own physicians, were analyzed. The average overall QOL score was 3.39. There was high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.9685) and a high correlation between the psychological and the environmental domains (r = 0.7021), the physical domain and the level of independence (r = 0.6031) and social relations and the environment (r = 0.6856) and between health conditions perceived by patients and QOL scores. In addition, differences by gender, treatments and cancer sites were also found to be significantly different at the 5% significance level. The results indicated that the WHOQOL core instrument was sensitive enough to evaluate the QOL of cancer patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Informing advanced cancer patients of the terminal nature of their disease and how this influenced their mental state].

From January, 1983 to July, 1987, advanced cancer patients, who have since died, were analysed as to the influence of their mental state after being told of the terminal nature of their disease. After obtaining family consent, 27 out of total of 65 patients were told the true nature of their disease, in contrast to the remaining 38 terminal patients who were kept unaware that they had cancer on the insistence of their families. The depression observed just before death was the marker used to determine the patients' mental distress during the terminal period, and it was noted that the incidence of this terminal depression was higher in the uniformed patients, and highest in those with pain who had not been told. Thus it was concluded that informing a patient that he or she has terminal cancer does not always induce mental distress, even in patients in an advanced cancer stage. Further, the pain that cancer causes must be effectively fought, since this was the major cause of mental distress during the terminal stage of the disease.

Adult↗