TY - JOUR
T1 - Quality of life in the first year of cancer diagnosis among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people living in regional and remote areas of Australia
AU - Elder-Robinson, Elaina
AU - Diaz, Abbey
AU - Howard, Kirsten
AU - Parikh, Darshit Rajeshkumar
AU - Kar, Giam
AU - Garvey, Gail
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Targeted Approaches To Improve Cancer Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (TACTICS; #1153027) and the Centre of Research Excellence in Discovering Indigenous Strategies to improve Cancer Outcomes Via Engagement, Research Translation and Training (DISCOVER-TT CRE, funded by NHMRC No. #1041111). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funder. D.R.P. was supported by a DISCOVER-TT (NHMRC No. #1041111) post-graduate scholarship and received funding support from Charles Darwin University. AD was funded by the NHMRC-funded TACTICS CRE (#1153027) and a University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine Research Fellowship. GG was funded by a NHMRC Investigator Grant (#1176651).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/1/1
Y1 - 2022/1/1
N2 - Little is known of the quality of life (QoL) of cancer patients in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, where healthcare delivery is geographically challenged. This exploratory study describes QoL among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cancer patients in the NT, in the first year of diagnosis. Participants were recruited from the only cancer care centre in the NT and completed the Assessment of Quality-of-Life questionnaire (AQoL-4D). The results were descriptively analysed. The participants’ (n = 63; mean age 58.8 years) mean AQoL utility score was 0.72 (SD 0.26); patients scored lowest in the relationships and mental health dimensions of the questionnaire (mean 0.89, SD 0.19, and 0.89, SD 0.17, respectively). Participants living in remote and very remote areas (46%) reported higher QoL scores, compared with participants in the outer regional capital city of the NT in the overall (mean 0.76, SD 0.22 and 0.78, SD 0.20 vs. 0.67, SD 0.29, respectively), and mental health dimensions (mean 0.92, SD 0.09 and mean 0.94, SD 0.06 vs. 0.85, SD 0.22, respectively). The findings were suggestive of clinically meaningful differences across socioeconomic groups, cancer and treatment types, and comorbidity status. Mean QoL scores were consistent with previous reports in other Australian cancer cohorts. The findings suggest a need to support cancer patients’ mental health and relationships during the diagnosis and treatment phase of their cancer journey.
AB - Little is known of the quality of life (QoL) of cancer patients in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, where healthcare delivery is geographically challenged. This exploratory study describes QoL among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cancer patients in the NT, in the first year of diagnosis. Participants were recruited from the only cancer care centre in the NT and completed the Assessment of Quality-of-Life questionnaire (AQoL-4D). The results were descriptively analysed. The participants’ (n = 63; mean age 58.8 years) mean AQoL utility score was 0.72 (SD 0.26); patients scored lowest in the relationships and mental health dimensions of the questionnaire (mean 0.89, SD 0.19, and 0.89, SD 0.17, respectively). Participants living in remote and very remote areas (46%) reported higher QoL scores, compared with participants in the outer regional capital city of the NT in the overall (mean 0.76, SD 0.22 and 0.78, SD 0.20 vs. 0.67, SD 0.29, respectively), and mental health dimensions (mean 0.92, SD 0.09 and mean 0.94, SD 0.06 vs. 0.85, SD 0.22, respectively). The findings were suggestive of clinically meaningful differences across socioeconomic groups, cancer and treatment types, and comorbidity status. Mean QoL scores were consistent with previous reports in other Australian cancer cohorts. The findings suggest a need to support cancer patients’ mental health and relationships during the diagnosis and treatment phase of their cancer journey.
KW - Aboriginal
KW - AQoL
KW - Health-related quality of life
KW - Indigenous health
KW - Northern Territory
KW - Quality of life
KW - Regional
KW - Remote
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121794336&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19010330
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19010330
M3 - Article
C2 - 35010591
AN - SCOPUS:85121794336
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 330
ER -