Health-related Needs and Quality of Life in Childhood Cancer Survivors

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the health-related needs and quality of life in childhood cancer survivors and to identify the relationship between health-related needs and quality of life. Methods: Data were collected from April 11 to May 30, 2014. The participants aged 18 similar to 35 years diagnosed with a childhood cancer had completed actual treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy) at least two years earlier. They were randomly selected from among childhood cancer survivors under follow-up management after cancer treatment at three general hospitals in Korea. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, the post-hoc Scheffe test, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data. Results: Among the 371 participants, 214 (57.7%) were male and the mean age was 22.5 years. The mean score for health-related needs was 2.72 out of 5. Positive self-motivation need had the highest mean score of domain. The mean score for quality of life was 5.92 out of 10. Health-related needs and quality of life were negatively correlated (r=-.70, p<.001). Conclusion: Health-related needs of childhood cancer survivors should be regularly assessed to meet their needs and improve the quality of life of childhood cancer survivors.