EC Nursing and Healthcare

Background: Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) refers to the impact of disease and treatment on disability and daily living. It is patient-based, with focus on the impact of a perceived health state on the ability to carry out their normal activities.

Objective: This study investigated the effect of wounds on patient’s quality of life (QOL) in Fako Division, South West Region of Cameroon.

Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was used. Purposive and consecutive convenience sampling methods were employed to select the sites and enroll participants respectively. The study population was made up of all patients admitted with wounds in the surgical units of three hospitals selected for the study. The study was conducted from April to July 2020. Participants who met the inclusion criteria and gave their consent were selected. The dermatologic quality of life index was used to collect data on participants’ QOL. Data collected was entered into Epi Data Version 3.1 and analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0.

Results: A total of 156 patients participated in the study. Most of the participants were males (61.0%), 55.2% had acute wounds while 44.8% had chronic wounds, 62.4% had a low quality of life and 7.8% had a high quality of life. In general, patients’ quality of life was negatively affected by their wounds (62.4%). The quality of life of patients with chronic wounds was significantly lower than that of patients with acute wounds (P values = 0.004, and 0.007). Patient’s demographic data had no statistically significant relationship with their quality of life.

Conclusion: Living with wounds could be very challenging thus, the knowledge of the patient’s quality of life can be used to improve approaches to care.

Keywords: Quality of Life; Patients; Wounds; Fako Division

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