QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH ENDOCRINE TUMORS OF THE GASTROINTESTINAL-TRACT - PATIENT AND STAFF PERCEPTIONS

Patient and staff perceptions regarding the importance of selected qua lity-of-life (QoL) aspects and patient ratings of their present QoL (E ORTC QLQ-C30) were investigated The study comprised 17 patients with e ndocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and their staff paired i n dyads. Both patients and staff rated physical aspects of life (e.g., ''wash yourself; dress, eat, etc.,'' ''have a good health,'' ''not ha ve pain'') as most important for experiencing a good QoL. Staff consid ered work as more important for experiencing a good QoL than did patie nts. Patients rated their QoL as relatively good and were more satisfi ed with certain QoL aspects than staff perceived them to be. Staff did not accurately judge a certain. patient's satisfaction with various Q oL aspects, which suggests that there is room for staff to improve the ir understanding of these aspects. There were no significant mean valu e differences between patient and staff ratings of patient anxiety and depression, but no significant correlations within dyads. This sugges ts that the communication between patients and staff could be improved in this respect.