A Study of the Relationship Between Perceived Health Locus of Control and Quality of Life of Cancer Patients.

암환자가 지각하는 건강통제위 성격과 삶의 질에 관한 관계연구 -방사선요법을 받는 암환자를 중심으로-

  • Bang, Dong-Wan (Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Bundang CHA General Hospital, College of Medicine, Pochon CHA University)
  • 방동완 (포천중문 의과대학 분당차병원)
  • Published : 2000.12.01

Abstract

It has been reported that the cancer patient's quality of life is influenced by the perceived health state, self-esteem, health locus of control, social support, whether there is a pain or not, the stage of a disease, the period of a disease, etc, and however, there has been scarcely the research into the fact at home whose cultural and social backgrounds are entire1y different from those of American and European Countries. Accordingly, the author of this thesis performed this study. considering that it is necessary to know the relations between the health locus of control which make it possible to predict the object's behavior related to health and to make plans to induce the object or patient into sound behavior and the quality of life which is closely related to the cancer patient's health, emotion, society, economy, etc. on the whole. This study, a cross-sectional one, includes 135 subjects of $in{\cdot}out$ patients registered at Y University Hospital whose age are more than 20 years, From these patients, data were collected for two weeks through the questionnaire which content concerns about the quality of life and the health locus of control. All the collected data were processed and analyzed through Student's t-test, ANOVA, and the calculation of Pearson Correlation Coefficient, using the SAS program 1. It appeared that the disposition of health locus of control was mostly inclined to the disposition of powerful other health locus of control($28.37{\pm}4.24$), then inclined to internal health locus of control($27.03{\pm}4.17$), and next to chance health locus of control($19.71{\pm}4.97$) By the way. the disposition of powerful other health locus of control appeared a tittle bit higher than internal health locus of control 2. The degree of the quality of life appeared to be 137.54 points in the average of total points and 3.11 in the average evaluation mark. It appeared that the quality of life was most significantly influenced by a factor of 'relations with neighbors' and least significantly influenced by factors of physical conditions and functions. 3. It appeared that the relation between the disposition of health locus of control and the quality of life has nothing to do with the relation between internal health locus of control and the quality of life(r=.1446, P>.05) and also with the relation between the disposition of powerful other health locus of control(r=.0385, P>.05). In conclusion, in the study it has been found out that there is no correlation between the health locus of control and the quality of life, and however it is sound to induce the cancer patient to internal health locus of control. Therefore, it is necessary that under the special circumstances, the cancer patient's behavior should be predicted, thereby inducing the patient to the sound change of his or her behavior. Also in order that the patient enjoys his or her life satisfactorily while living, It is deemed that some kind of multilateral meditation in health and treatment is necessary so that the patient can feel the relief of pain, better health, etc.

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