Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T19:35:52.943Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quality of life from the perspective of the palliative care patient in a resource-poor community in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2012

Jacoba J.M. Jansen van Rensburg ,
Johanna E. Maree  and
Corrien van Belkum
Jacoba J.M. Jansen van Rensburg*
Affiliation:
Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
Johanna E. Maree
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Corrien van Belkum
Affiliation:
Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jacoba JM Jansen van Rensburg, Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2193. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective:

Quality of life is an ill-defined term, as it means different things to different people. Quality of life has been well researched, especially with respect to people with cancer, but not necessarily from the perspective of the patient, and also, not in Third World, resource-poor countries. The objective of this study was to explore quality of life from the perspective of palliative care patients managed at a palliative care clinic serving a resource-poor community in Tshwane, South Africa.

Method:

An exploratory, qualitative phenomenological study was conducted. The target population for this study was all patients managed at a palliative care clinic serving a resource-poor community in Tshwane. Self-report data were gathered by means of in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed using a template analysis style as well as content analysis using open coding. Data analysis was done concurrently with data gathering. Data saturation was reached after 10 interviews (n = 10).

Results:

Three themes arose from the data: factors that had a positive influence on quality of life, factors that had a negative influence on quality of life, and experience of quality of life. Work played the most important role in quality of life whereas only one participant linked symptom control with quality of life. Experiencing symptoms, rejection, and stigmatization had a negative influence on quality of life. Friends and religion played a significant role and added to quality of life.

Significance of results:

Life was a daily struggle for survival. Poverty was so overwhelming that quality of life was primarily measured in terms of the ability to buy food and other basic commodities.

Keywords

Quality of lifePalliative careResource-poor communitySouth Africa
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 21 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bennett, M.I. & Closs, S.J. (2008). Clinical assessment and measurement. In Palliative Nursing: Principles and Evidence for Practice, 2nd ed., Payne, S., Seymore, J. & Ingleton, C. (eds.), pp. 145–158. London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Bentley, M.E., Corneli, A.L., Piwoz, E. et al. (2005). Perceptions of the role of maternal nutrition in HIV-positive breastfeeding women in Malawi. The Journal of Nutrition, 135, 945–949.Google Scholar
Bowling, A. (1993). Health-related quality of life: A discussion of the concept, its use and measurement background: the ‘quality of life’. http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/48475/m2s5bowling.pdfGoogle Scholar
Burns, N. & Grove, S.K. (2005). The Practice of Nursing Research: Conduct, Critique and Utilization, 5th ed.Philadelphia: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Burkhart, L., Schmidt, L. & Hogan, N. (2011). Development and psychometric testing of the Spiritual Care Inventory Instrument. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 67, 2463–2472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, A.J. & Higginson, I.J. (2001). Are quality of life measures patient centred? British Medical Journal, 322, 1357.Google Scholar
Chippendale, S. (2001). Ethical issues in palliative care. In Palliative Nursing: Bringing Comfort and Hope, Kinghorn, S. & Gamlin, R. (eds.), pp. 213–229. London: Baillière Tindall.Google Scholar
Chippendale, S. (2007). Choice at the end of life: Ethics and palliative care. In Palliative Nursing: Improving End-of life Care, 2nd ed., Kinghorn, S. & Gaines, S. (eds.), pp. 171–190. London: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Chui, Y.Y., Kuan, H.Y., Fu, I.C.Y. et al. (2009). Factors associated with lower quality of life among patients receiving palliative care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65, 1860–1871.Google Scholar
Demmer, C. (2010). Experiences of women who have lost young children to AIDS in KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa: a qualitative study. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 13, 50.Google Scholar
Emanuel, N., Simon, M.A., Burt, M. et al. (2010). Economic impact of terminal illness and the willingness to change it. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 13, 941–944.Google Scholar
Farrer, K. (2001). Pain control. In Palliative Nursing: Bringing Comfort and Hope, Kinghorn, S. & Gamlin, R. (eds.), pp. 13–34. London: Baillière Tindall.Google Scholar
Goedecke, J.H. & Jennings, C.L. (2006). Ethnic differences in obesity. Continuing Medical Education Journal, 23, 546–550.Google Scholar
Haigh, C. (2008). Research governess and research ethics. In Nursing Research: Designs and Methods, Watson, R., McKenna, H., Cowman, S., et al. (eds.), pp. 125–135. Edinburgh: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Illhardt, F. & Ten Have, H. (2002). Research ethics in palliative care. In The ethics of palliative care: European perspectives, Ten Have, H. & Clark, D. (eds). pp 198–211. Philadelphia: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Kalichman, S.C. & Simbay, L.C. (2003). HIV testing attitudes, AIDS stigma, and voluntary HIV counselling and testing in a black township in Cape Town, South Africa. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 79, 442–447.Google Scholar
Kinzbrunner, B.M. (2005). Palliative care perspectives. In Palliative Practices: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Kuebler, K.K., Davis, M.P. & Moore, C.D. (eds.), pp. 3–28. Maryland Heights: Mosby.Google Scholar
Lamb, M.A. (2001). Sexuality. In Textbook of Palliative Nursing, Ferrell, B.R. & Coyle, N. (eds.), pp. 309–315. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Y.S. & Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park: Sage.Google Scholar
Maree, J.E. & Ferns, D. (2008). Community of practice project. Pretoria: University of Technology.Google Scholar
McCance, T. & Mcilfatrick, S. (2008).The Practice of Nursing Research: Conduct, Critique and Utilization, 5th ed.Philadelphia: Elsevier.Google Scholar
McEwen, M. & Pullis, B. (2009). Community-based Nursing: An Introduction, 3rd ed.St. Louis: Saunders.Google Scholar
Michael, K. (2001). Rehabilitation. In Textbook of Palliative Nursing, Ferrel, B. & Coyle, N. (eds.), pp. 632–646. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods, 3rd ed.Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Polit, D.E. & Beck, C.T. (2008). Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice, 8th ed.Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Van Dyk, A. (2008). HIV and AIDS Care & Counselling: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 4th ed.Cape Town: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Whyte, L. (2007). Ancillary Health Care: Home Based Care. Cape Town: Future Managers.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2011). Definition of palliative care. http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/Google Scholar