The Relationship between Dignity Status and Quality of Life in Iranian Terminally Ill Patients with Cancer

BACKGROUND Palliative care is an approach that has been used to care for terminally ill patients. The current study was performed to assess the association between the status of patient dignity and quality of life (QOL) in Iranian terminally ill patients with cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS This descriptive correlational study was conducted on 210 end-stage cancer patients (102 men and 108 women) who were referred to Seyed Al-Shohada Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, in 2015. To assess dignity status, we used the Patient Dignity Inventory. The Persian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire was used for QOL assessment. RESULTS There was a significant negative association between total dignity status and QOL scales. In addition, significant negative relationship was observed between dignity-related domains (loss of worth sense: r = -0.50, P < 0.001; anxiety and uncertainty: r = -0.51, P < 0.001; symptom distress: r = -0.62, P < 0.001; and loss of autonomy: r = -0.61, P < 0.001) and functional scale and some subscales of the QOL scale. In contrast, a significant positive relationship was found between dignity-related domains, and total symptom scale and fatigue. No significant relationship was observed between different items of dignity and global health status/QOL scale. CONCLUSIONS High dignity status in terminally ill patients was associated with higher QOL in terms of functional intactness and lower symptom distress. Further studies are necessary to shed light to our findings.