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Quality of life in Arab Muslim cancer survivors following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: comparison with matched healthy group

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Abstract

Purpose

The aims of this study were to determine if quality of life (QOL) among Arab Muslim hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) survivors differs from that of a healthy matched comparison group and to examine the relationships of demographic and medical variables and perceived social support with post-HSCT QOL.

Methods

HSCT survivors (n = 63) were recruited from the King Hussein Cancer Center outpatient clinic. A matched (age, gender, education), healthy comparison group (n = 63) was recruited through public advertisements. Participants completed the EORTC-30 QOL scale and the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey.

Results

Differences were found between the Arab Muslim HSCT survivor and healthy comparison groups for physical functioning (p < .0001), role functioning (p < .01), social functioning (p < .0001) QOL domains, and an overall symptom score (p = .003) with the HSCT group reporting poorer status than the healthy comparison group. Effect sizes for the three QOL domains ranged from .50 (role functioning) to 1.20 (social functioning). No significant difference was noted between the Arab Muslim HSCT and comparison groups in emotional and cognitive QOL domains. Higher overall symptom scores were significantly associated with poorer QOL across all QOL domains.

Conclusion

Similar to prior research with HSCT survivors, results suggest that HSCT has a significant negative impact on QOL. However, despite this general similarity, results suggest that the needs and experience of Muslim Arab HSCT survivors might differ from those of Western HSCT survivors in the social and emotional QOL domains. Given growing numbers of Arab and Muslim cancer survivors in the USA and other Western countries, future research is warranted.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the King Hussein Cancer Center in Jordan for their assistance in conducting this study. Financial support for this research was provided by the American Oncology Nursing Society.

Conflicts of interest

We declare that all authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. We have full control of all primary data and agree to allow the Journal to review our data if requested.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, University of Louisville, 555 S. Floyd St., K-Wing, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA

    Fawwaz Alaloul & Lynne A. Hall

  2. College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Dorothy Y. Brockopp

  3. College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Michael A. Andrykowski

  4. King Hussein Cancer Foundation, Amman, Jordan

    Taghreed S. Al Nusairat

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  1. Fawwaz Alaloul
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  2. Dorothy Y. Brockopp
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  3. Michael A. Andrykowski
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  4. Lynne A. Hall
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  5. Taghreed S. Al Nusairat
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Correspondence to Fawwaz Alaloul.

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Alaloul, F., Brockopp, D.Y., Andrykowski, M.A. et al. Quality of life in Arab Muslim cancer survivors following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: comparison with matched healthy group. Support Care Cancer 23, 2157–2164 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2583-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2583-7

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