Abstract
Date Presented 4/8/2016
This study provides significant knowledge about everyday activity problems and needs of the growing number of people who are living with cancer and provides the basis for developing tailored occupational therapy interventions for this population.
Primary Author and Speaker: Åse Brandt
Additional Author and Speaker: Karen la Cour
Contributing Authors: Eva Wæhrens, Hanne Peoples
PURPOSE: To describe the everyday life of people with advanced cancer in the home environment, including the specific activities that occupy their time and their perceived ability to manage and perform daily activities.
BACKGROUND: Globally, the number of people living with advanced cancer for extended periods of time is growing. Evidence has shown that these people spend a significant part of their time in the home environment and up to 30% have problems with daily activities. Yet, little is known about how they manage their everyday activities in the home environment.
DESIGN: On the basis of a cross-sectional design, a consecutive sample of 164 participants with different cancer diagnosis in advanced stages and a World Health Organization functional performance score of 1–3 were included in the study.
METHOD: Participants reported their daily activities in structured self-completed time-geographic diaries and were interviewed by trained occupational therapists using the ADL–Interview (ADL–I) combined with open-ended qualitative interview questions.
Analysis of the data from diaries was conducted by means of a descriptive time geographical analysis program; Rasch measurement methods were applied to generate linear ADL–I ability measures, and the qualitative data were thematically analyzed.
The results indicate that daily life of people with advanced cancer is dominated by activities in the home environment. They report most problems with physically demanding household activities and express frustrations in not being able to maintain prior activities.
DISCUSSION: The study contributes significant knowledge on the specific daily activity problems and challenges people with advanced cancer experience in regard to managing at home. Researchers and clinicians can draw on this knowledge as a prerequisite for developing and implementing home-based goal-directed interventions.
