Assessment of level of fear of radiotherapy in oncology patients attending a tertiary health facility

ABSTRACT

This prospective study is designed to assess the level of fear of radiotherapy in Oncology Patients attending a tertiary health facility. Two hundred and thirteen (213) Oncology patients reported to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) for Radiotherapy from March 1, 2013 to December 22, 2013 were recruited for this study. Descriptive statistics (Frequency and percentage) as well as inferential statistics (χ2) test was used in analyzing the data. The dataset were entered and analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 for windows. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. The result showed that more than half (70.4%) of the Oncology patients reported high level of fear. Age of oncology patients, educational level and site of tumour were significantly (p<0.0001) associated with high level of fear of RT. This study reported very high proportion of fear of radiotherapy among Oncology patients which may be due to lack of awareness of the mechanism of operation of the procedure and the positive outcome as against the negative fears they have. Therefore, there is the need for awareness/teachings to patients prior to therapy to help ameliorate their fears; also special attention should be paid to provide adequate psychological or psychiatric support to patients with high level of fear of Radiotherapy