Effects of Counselling on Quality of Life among Cancer Patients in Malaysia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: We aimed to assess whether "Managing Patients on Chemotherapy" book is effective to improve quality of life (QOL) of cancer patient via counselling by pharmacist.

Methods: A randomized control trial study was run among 2120 cancer patients in public hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia, from Apr 2016-Jan 2018. The treatment group received counselling regarding chemotherapy by using developed module. The data were collected at three time-points: baseline, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd follow-ups after counseling by Validated Malay version of the WHOQOL-BREF of questionnaire. Data analyses were done using χ² and two-way repeated measure ANOVA.

Results: The treatment group improved significantly as compared to control group in physical health, psychological health, social relationship, environment and overall QOL (P<0.00).

Conclusion: The "Managing Patients on Chemotherapy" book along with repetitive counselling by pharmacists is a useful intervention for improving QOL of cancer patients undergoing treatment.

Keywords: Cancer patients; Counselling; Malaysia; Pharmacist; Quality of life.

Fig. 1:

Comparison of changes in physical health and psychological health domains of QOL (A, B) in intervention and control group over times. Baseline: Before doing counselling, First: After doing first counselling session, Second: After doing second counselling session, Third: After doing third counselling session

Fig. 2:

Comparison of changes in social relationship and environment domain of QOL (C, D) in intervention and control group over times. Baseline: Before doing counselling, First: After doing first counselling session, Second: After doing second counselling session, Third: After doing third counselling session