Correlates between different life areas of women after Wertheim-Meigs cervical cancer surgery in terms of the quality of life

Professional activity and family roles are the two most important areas of functioning of adults. Cancer symptoms have a great impact on the performance of family and professional roles. The aim of the study was verifying, if and what correlates exist among various life areas of a women (family and marriage, work, social relations, health and psychological functioning), and the consequences of Wertheim-Meigs cervical cancer surgery, in terms of the quality of life. The sample included 30 women, aged 38 to 70 years (average age 53.43 years, SD = 9.5). All respondents were patients of the Oncology Clinic at the Medical University of Gdańsk. Each of them was diagnosed to have cervical cancer, stage Ib-IIa. All of them had undergone Wetheim-Meigs surgery at least 10 years before. Research tools used: Questionnaire for studying the spatial-temporal background (Bidzan 1992, amended 2010); HAD Scale (The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) (Zigmont, Snaith 1983), LASA Scale (Linear analogue self-assessment) (Priestman, Baum after de Walden-Gałuszko, Majkowicz 1994), Quality of Life Self-Assessment Scale (Bidzan 2002) and QLQ-30 Questionnaire (in this case only the general level of the quality of life was considered). The obtained results indicate that in case of women, who underwent Wertheim-Meigs cervical cancer surgery, there is a correlation between the assessment of work area (professional and home), social area (relations with other people) and health aspects, especially concerning mood, satisfaction with physical appearance and making decisions, with the assessment of the health-related quality of life. No correlation was observed between the assessment of the family area (relations with a partner, sexual life, family and marital relations), anxiety, depression and sleep disorders, and the assessment of the health-related quality of life.