Changes in Health- Related Quality of Life and Psychosocial Well-being of Breast Cancer Survivors: Findings from a Group- Based Intervention Program in Malaysia

Background: There is a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of multifaceted group-based interventions toimprove psychological well-being and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of breast cancer (BCa) survivors inMalaysia. This study is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of such intervention program among the BCa survivors.Materials and Methods: This was a group-based intervention program with pre- and post-test design, carried outamong BCa survivors (n=37) who were members of Breast Cancer Support Group Centre, Johor Bahru. A validatedself-administered questionnaire was used to assess the impact of the program on psychosocial well-being and HRQOL ofthe participants. Results: The mean age of BCa survivors was 58.1 years (SD=9.7), with mean age at diagnosis of49.9 years (SD=9.6). Majority of them were of Chinese ethnicity, married and had secondary level education, butwere unemployed. More than 86% of them were diagnosed to have early BCa diagnosis and have since completedthe treatment. There were significant decreases in median depression (p=0.001), anxiety (p<0.001) and stress (p<0.001)scores at post-intervention. More than 85% of the participants rated themselves to have a good or very good QOLat post-intervention, as opposed to 75.9% at pre-intervention. Significant improvements in several HR-QOL domainscores were seen, with psychological score improving the most (p<0.001), followed by social relationship (p=0.002)and physical health (p=0.004). Conclusions: Group-based multifaceted intervention can be a viable solution to improvepsychosocial well-being of BCa survivors.