1Family Medicine, College of Nursing, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
2Psychiatric Nursing, College of Nursing, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
3Community Medicine, Department of Fundamental of Nursing, College of Nursing, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
Cancer is a monstrous disease. The diagnosis of “cancer “evokes a shock reaction in the patient and his family. Perhaps the most universal emotional response to cancer is fear. This study was aimed to assess fear among cancer patients at oncology centers and to identify the relationship of fear with selected variables. The study was descriptive cross-sectional one, on sample of 300 patients in basra oncology centers. Closed end questions questionnaire was used for the purpose of data collection; the data collection was carried out from December 2016 to March 2017.
This study showed that 151(50.3%) of the patients fear from cancer very much, 148 (49.3%) of them fear from cancer a little, and only 1 (0.3%) of them never fear from cancer, most of the studied sample151 (50.3%) were female, the majority of the sample were below (42) years of age, high percent of them 56(18.7%) were diagnosing with leukemia, most of them 160 (53.3%) were having (1–2) tumors, high percent of them 148(49.3%) were taking chemotherapy, the majority of them 243(81.%) took below (53) doses of chemotherapy, regarding duration of diagnosis with cancer, 185 (61.7%) the duration of diagnosis was less than (16) months. The majority of cancer's patients 237(79%) have a heart pounding from fear from cancer, the majority of them 236 (78.6%) had difficulty breathing from fear from their cancer, a lot of them 219(73%) had mouth dryness from fear from their cancer, the majority of them 254(84.6%) felt faintness, dizziness or weakness from fear from cancer, a lot of them 206 (68.6%) tremble from fear from cancer, the majority of them 253 (84.3%) felt discomfort or chest pain from fear from their cancer, the majority of them 270 (90%) feel nervousness or restless from fear from cancer, a high percent of them 196 (65.3%) sweat a lot from fear from cancer, a high percent of them 154 (51.3%) feel tense from fear from cancer, the majority of them 215 (71.6%) fear from dying from cancer, 135(45%) of them have nausea and vomiting from fear from cancer, 105 (35%) of them have a loss of bladder control from fear from cancer, high percent of them 210(70%) had a trouble in falling asleep or sleeping too much from fear from cancer, the majority of them 236(78.6%) feel that they are a failure or have let themselves or their family down. There was no statistical significant difference between fear and the following sociodemographic characteristics (age, number of tumors, and number of chemotherapy doses). There was highly significant correlation between fear and the following sociodemographic characteristics (gender, treatment, diagnosis, duration of diagnosis).
Assessment, fear, cancer, oncology center
