Introduction: A substantial number of breast cancer patients of all stages of Cancer are regularly counseled at Central India Cancer Research Institute, Nagpur India by trained counselors. In India majority of the patients belong to large joint families where family members play major role offering great support and motivation to the patient throughout their treament.
Objective: To compare quality of life (QOL) of breast cancer patients after undergoing 10 days post-treatment counseling sessions with family or alone.
Methods: A consecutive sample of 120 cancer patients seeking treatment (in the form of surgery -MRM or BCT/Radiation /Chemotherapy) at the tertiary care setting was recruited after obtaining informed consent. This sample was randomly divided in to 2 groups. Group 1 patients were counseled alone on one to one basis while Group 2 patients were offered additional family counseling for equal number of (i.e.10) days. Counseling was done in person by trained counselors. Quality of life instrument-Breast cancer patient version with 46 items developed by City of Hope,National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute was used to assess QOL .
Results: Age and family background of two groups was comparable. But, education (p<0.014) and socio-economic status (p<0.016) of Group 2 subjects were significantly better than those in Group 1. Mean (±SD) score of QOL in Group 2 patients (209.8±18.6) who additionally received family counseling was significantly (p<0.0001) higher than the mean score (173.4±16.9) of Group 1 patients who were counseled alone. The study findings justify the need of counseling family members for improving the post-treatment quality of life of the breast cancer patients in India.