الفهرس يوجد فقط 14 صفحة متاحة للعرض العام
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المستخلص
This study was conducted to describe quality of life (QOL) among patients with chronic airflow limitations (CAL) and to identify the correlates of QOL among them. The study recruited 61 CAL patients from attendants of the Chest Outpatient Clinic and the Internal Medicine Department of Menoufiya University Hospital. The tools of the study included an interview questionnaire schedule and an adapted QOL Index Scale of Ferrel (1995). The main findings of the study were that patients with CAL had low scores of QOL (125.61±63.09). Duration of disease significantly and negatively correlated with all components of QOL (p<0.001). Age correlated significantly and positively only with the social component (r=0.268, p=0.037). Females had higher QOL scores than males in all dimensions except the spiritual dimension. Moslems, urban, illiterate, employed nonsmoker, compliant, informed patients with sufficient income had consistently higher QOL scores in all dimensions, while patients exposed to smoke, complaining of wheeze, severe CAL, and those previously hospitalized for more than 10 times had low QOL scores in all dimensions. The study concluded that being aged, illiterate, nonsmoker employed, compliant, informed, living in an urban area away from smoke exposure, not complaining of wheeze with mild disease severity and minimal history of hospitalization are correlates of higher QOL among CAL patients. The study recommended that QOL assessment should be included in clinical practice in conjunction with conventional measures of airway functions. It should be included in the primary care aspects of CAL patients. Nurses should play a pivotal role toward making CAL patients more informed about their disease, linking patients to social workers in the hospitals and to enhance their coping skills of CAL patients by performing psychotherapy, physical exercise programs and educational activities. More research is needed to evaluate smoking as an important risk factor probably affecting the QOL. Further research is needed to profile the factors that may affect QOL in CAL patients.