Adherence to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment in patients with gastric and colorectal cancer at oncology unit

Abstract

Objective. To describe factors related to treatment adherence of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients suffering from gastric and colorectal cancer. Materials and methods. It is a descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study. It was chosen a convenience non-probabilistic simple of 35 patients. The study was carried out between June and October, 2013 on patients attending oncologic centers in Huila. Data analysis was done by using SPSS versión 19.0 through descriptive statistics. Results. Most survey respondents are over 51, have stable partner and attend to and have treatment continuity. More than a half of them have family economic support. Patients have a favorable adherence because the health teamwork shows a positive attitude when giving treatment, show interest in making patients attend to and medicine and nursing personnel make clear, timely recommendations, replying to questions about treatment. Despite 86% of population is not feeling well, they attend to the treatment sessions on time and a similar percentage never thought of quitting. Conclusions. Factors influencing adherence to treatment are: stable partner, family economic support, having a feeling of treatment favors recovery, feeling motivation. With respect to health team, having a positive attitude, interest in patient’s attendance and giving recommendations.