The purpose of this longitudinal prospective study was to assess changes in fatigue and quality of life for a 6-week course of radiotherapy.

A descriptive and longitudinal design was used to this study. Twenty-three subjects receiving radiotherapy from a radiotherapy clinic of a general hospital completed the questionnaires. Fatigue was measured using Lee's scale(1999) and quality of life using Yang's scale(2002) weekly for 6 weeks.

Fatigue significantly increased(F=6.043, p=.000), and quality of life significantly decreased(F=3.938, p=.003) and physical symptoms also significantly increased(F=2.432, p=.039) during a 6-week radiotherapy. Multiple regression analysis revealed that fatigue at the first week and physical symptoms at the 6th week were the significant affecting variables(60.1% of the variance) on fatigue. And 63.2% of the variance in quality of life was explained by quality of life and fatigue at the first week and body weight change for 6 weeks radiotherapy.

Based on these results, the fatigue and quality of life at the beginning time of radiotherapy have a lasting impact throughout the course of treatment. It suggests that nurses provide patients with information about the occurrence of fatigue during radiotherapy and the practical methods of intervening physical symptoms.

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between fatigue and nutritional status in patients undergoing radiotherapy.

A correlational and crossectional study design was used.

One-hundred-fifty-one subjects with cancer receiving radiotherapy were recruited from a university hospital in Chonan, Korea. Fatigue was measured using Piper's Fatigue Scale (PFS). The parameters for nutritional status included body weight, body mass index, hemoglobin, and lymphocyte counts. Cancer stage was controlled in analyzing the differences in fatigue, body weight and body mass index.

The patients who experienced most fatigue were in their fifties, employed, had head and neck cancer, received radiotherapy on the head and neck, and had concomitant chemotherapy. Disease-related characteristics such as cancer type, and treatment type were frequently related to poorer nutritional status. Patients who showed poorer nutritional status, such as those with lower body weight, lower body mass index and lower hemoglobin levels were more fatigued than those who did not exhibit such characteristics. Lymphocyte counts did not correlate with fatigue. Conclusion: The findings can be used by nurses who are taking care of patients undergoing radiotherapy. Considering the relationship between fatigue and nutritional status, nurses can identify the risk group most vulnerable to fatigue and malnourishment in order to provide appropriate interventions for them.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of a cognitive-behavioral nursing intervention on anxiety and depression of patients with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

A nonequivalent control group design was used for the study. The research participants were patients with breast cancer (N=71; experimental group=35, comparison group=36) who received radiotherapy at P university hospital. The experimental group received a 6-week cognitive-behavioral nursing intervention (2 hr/week), which included nursing counseling, education about treatment choices for breast cancer and possible side effects and management strategies during radiotherapy, and rehabilitation exercise.

Following the intervention, the experimental group showed significantly lower levels of anxiety (Experimental group=34.60±6.35, Comparison group=44.63±9.93, t=3.552, p<.001) and depression (Experimental group=10.20±6.61, Comparison group=17.81±10.85, t=3.542, p<.001) than the comparison group.

The findings from this study showed that cognitive-behavioral counseling applied by nurses is very effective to reduce anxiety and depression among patients with breast cancer. Therefore, providing nursing counseling to broader spectrum of patients with cancer should be considered. Further research would warrant future clinical application of nursing counseling.