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Self-perceived health status of Irish breast cancer survivors
1Department of Public Health, Southern Health Board, Wilton, Cork, Ireland. osullivanm@shb.ie
Background:
There is a paucity of data on the health status of breast cancer survivors.
Aims:
To measure the self-perceived health status of a cohort of breast cancer survivors by means of the SF-36 questionnaire.
Methods:
The questionnaire was administered to 120 survey participants. Findings were compared with those of an external comparison group.
Results:
The health status of the survey participants was found to be significantly better than that of the comparison group on four of the eight SF-36 dimensions--social functioning, mental health, vitality and general health perceptions.
Conclusions:
The self-perceived health status of breast cancer survivors merits further research in the Irish context. Inclusion of the SF-36 questionnaire as an outcome measure is recommended.