Health-Related Quality of Life in Persons With Ostomies Managed in an Outpatient Care Setting.

PURPOSE

We examined health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in persons with ostomies receiving outpatient care. We also analyzed relationships among HRQOL, demographic, and pertinent clinical factors.

DESIGN

We used a descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional study design to collect and analyze data. Data in this article are a secondary analysis of data collected from a primary study, developed by Santos and Gomboski, on the adaptation and validation of the City of Hope-Quality of Life-Ostomy Questionnaire (COH-QOL-OQ) to the Portuguese language in Brazil.

SUBJECTS AND SETTING

A convenience sample of 215 adults living with an ostomy was evaluated. Slightly more than half (51.6%) were men, 67.5% underwent colostomy surgery, and 59.1% underwent cancer-related ostomy surgery. Subjects received care in specialized health care units in 3 cities in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

METHODS

After approval by the Research Ethics Committee and permission from health care units, data were collected using 2 instruments: the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Short Version (WHOQOL-Bref) (generic HRQOL instrument) and the COH-QOL-OQ (disease specific HRQOL instrument). Data were analyzed using χ test and logistic regression (via a stepwise forward method). Patients were classified into 3 groups according to the means and standard deviations of the scores: low, moderate, and high quality of life (QOL).

RESULTS

Ostomy patients had total scores of 69.6 ± 20.2 and 6.1 ± 1.4 for the WHOQOL-Bref and COH-QOL-OQ instruments, respectively. Patients with shorter times since their ostomy creation had worse scores on both the specific QOL (P = .006) and generic QOL (P = .019) instruments. Patients who did not practice religion (P = .027; odds ratio [OR] = 3.39) and those without a partner/spouse (P = .007; OR = 4.90) had increased probability of having worse scores on the WHOQOL-Bref (generic instrument).

CONCLUSION

Persons living with ostomies were found to have scores indicating moderate HRQOL on a disease-specific and generic instrument. Shorter time since ostomy creation, lack of religious practice, and lack of a partner negatively influenced the HRQOL of these patients.