Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has major consequences on Covid-19 medical care. Besides limiting capacity of medical care the Covid-19 pandemic has specific impact on oncological care.
Objectives: This study aim is to determine patients' opinions about cancer treatment and follow-up and its impact on stress, anxiety and depression levels during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among patients who applied to the oncology outpatient clinic of the Gülhane Training and Research Hospital between March 15 and April 15, 2021. The impact of Covid-19 on three domains (covid-19 infection, impact on treatment plan, financial implications) and their relationship to patient descriptive characteristics were examined using 24 questionnaire questions. Its association with stress, anxiety, and depression was assessed on Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The data was collected by telephone. In the statistical analysis phase of the study, chi-square ratio tests, descriptive statistics, and mean comparison tests were performed.
Results: Two hundred twenty-three cancer patients completed this questionnaire. There was no statistically significant relationship between the age, sex, employment status, and disease stage of study subjects and their active treatment status. During the covid-19, it was observed that people who had difficulty getting to the hospital (60.71%) were afraid of getting Covid-19 from hospital staff (68.60%) and stated that the Covid-19 had changed their treatment plan (58.97%) mostly did not receive active treatment. It was found that there is a statistically significant difference between the levels of anxiety of people who received and did not receive active treatment, in accordance with their anxiety about the progression of the disease during the Covid-19 pandemic (1.22±0.36, 1.21±0.30, p<0.05).
Conclusions: In our study, it was determined that the level of anxiety, stress and depression in people who were concerned about the progression of the disease during the Covid-19 was higher than in people who were not worried about the progression of the disease during the pandemic The treatment guidelines in the Covid-19 pandemic should incorporate patients’ perspectives.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Cancer, Covid-19, Pandemic, Anxiety, Perspectives
|
