Assessment of Fatigue and Its Associated Factors in Breast Cancer Patients Under Treatment

Fatigue is a common distressing problem in most beast cancer patients. It may be caused by the disease, the complications of the disease and its treatments. This study aimed to assess fatigue and associated factors in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. A descriptive study was conducted on 100 patients from April 2011 to Aug.2011 in king Hussein Cancer Center. Fatigue Symptoms Inventory (FSI) scale was used for assessment of fatigue containing four subscales, other questions were concerning the socio-demographic data, the clinical information and the physical symptoms. Descriptive statistic, mean and standard deviation, chi-squarer and ANOVA test were used for data analysis. The result of this study declared the highest total mean score of fatigue subscale was (4.54 ±2.50) for frequency of fatigue in last week, and a high mean score of fatigue (4.42 ±2.86) was for the subscale of fatigue interferes with activity for the past week, While the lowest mean score was for the daily pattern of fatigue (2.93 ±1.335). Concerning the fatigue severity, the highest percentages (36%) of patients had moderate fatigue. In conclusion, fatigue is a significant problem for patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy although its severity is relatively different according to various variables.