Evaluation of the Effect of Patient Education on the Quality of Life Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Review Article

Abstract

Background: Currently, cancer is a major problem of human societies. Different methods are used for cancer treatment including radiotherapy. Radiotherapy affects patients in different ways and makes changes to the quality of life of cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to assess the effect of education on the quality of life of cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Methods: This is a review article with key words including “Education”, “Quality of life”, “Patients”, “Cancer”, and “Radiotherapy” in some Data bases such as Medline, Scopus, Science direct and Ovid during 2000 to 2019. Results: Of the 928 original articles, six papers were selected based on the main criteria, such as English and Persian language, articles of clinical relevance, and articles after 2000. In this study, articles were based on clinical trials on women and men patients with different cancers. Results of this study proved that education is the major component in improving these patients’ quality of life.  Conclusion: Radiotherapy, alone or in combination with other therapeutic methods, is among main treatments of cancer patients. Despite its beneficial effects, it is associated with some side effects reducing the quality of life of these patients. Physical and mental complications were equally involved in reducing their quality of life. Based on this finding, it is suggested that the use of educational methods and training and rehabilitation programs can influence the quality of cancer patients treated with various methods, especially radiation therapy.