Quality-of-life issues and symptoms reported by patients living with haematological malignancy: a qualitative study
Pushpendra Goswami, Esther N. Oliva, Tatyana Ionova, Roger Else, Jonathan Kell, Adele K. Fielding, Daniel M. Jennings, Μαρίνα Καρακάντζα, Saad Al‐Ismail, Graham P. Collins, Stewart McConnell, Catherine Langton, Sam Salek
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Our aim was to identify health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) issues and symptoms in patients with haematological malignancies (HMs) and develop a conceptual framework to reflect the inter-relation between them. METHODS: A total of 129 patients with HMs were interviewed in a UK multicentre qualitative study. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using NVivo-11. RESULTS: Overall, 34 issues were reported by patients and were grouped into two parts: quality of life (QoL) and symptoms. The most prevalent HRQoL issues were: eating and drinking habits; social life; physical activity; sleep; and psychological well-being. Furthermore, most prevalent disease-related symptoms were: tiredness; feeling unwell; breathlessness; lack of energy; and back pain. The most prevalent treatment side effects were: tiredness; feeling sick; disturbance in sense of taste; and breathlessness. CONCLUSIONS: Both HMs and their treatments have a significant impact on patients' HRQoL, in particular on issues such as job-role change, body image and impact on finances.