Marital satisfaction in patients with breast cancer who have undergone mastectomy at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background: Breast is an organ that affects sexual symbol and sexual satisfaction. The patients with mastectomy may suffer from both physical and psychological effects. The reaction from their close relatives can lead negative effects to the patients, especially, in term of body image. Previous studies in Thailand focused on depression, body image, coping style, and quality of life in breast cancer patients who had undergone mastectomy. However, there are few studies on marital satisfaction and sexual satisfaction.

Objectives: To investigate marital satisfaction and related factors in breast cancer patients who had undergone mastectomy at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted 100 breast cancer patients who had undergone mastectomy. Measurements consisted of 4 questionnaires, namely; personal information questionnaire, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), Sexual Health questionnaire, and Body Image Scale (BIS). Statistics used to analyze were descriptive statistics, Chi-square, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and logistic regression.

Results: Most breast cancer patients with mastectomy, had moderate level of marital satisfaction (69.0%), moderate level of sexual problems (61.0%), and high level of body image satisfaction (64.0%). Logistic regression analysis showed 3 predictors of low marital satisfaction including: no marriage registration, having numbness of armpit/ inner upper arm/ tips of fingers, and having no skin retraction of the surgical wound.

Conclusion: Most breast cancer patients with mastectomy had moderate level of marital satisfaction. The results were consistent with other studies and might effectively help caregivers to plan for caring the breast cancer patients.