The comfort level in breast cancer patients’ based on patients’ characteristics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: Comfort is an important factor in determining the successful outcomes of palliative care in breast cancer patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the comfort of cancer patients was disrupted due to restrictions on the number of visits, due to being categorized as a high-risk group for COVID-19. Patients were concerned about coming to the hospital for treatment because they were afraid of being infected, which served as an obstacle in treating breast cancer patients. Purpose: This study aims to describe patients’ comfort levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate the relationship between patients’ characteristics and comfort levels. Methods: This study involved 108 respondents with breast cancer at the National Cancer Center Hospital in 2021, using a cross-sectional research method. The study was conducted using a consecutive sampling technique, including breast cancer patients who were actively undergoing treatment in the hospital. The research instrument was the Comfort Assessment Breast Cancer Instrument (CABCI), using a scale of 1-4, with lower score indicating higher level of comfort. The data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The results showed that respondents’ level of comfort was still lacking. The best comfort aspect was the environmental aspect, and the worst aspect was the physical aspect. In addition, there were two variables related to comfort: type of treatment (p = 0.000; α = 0.05) and type of service in the hospital (outpatient and inpatient) (p = 0.000; α = 0.05). The best comfort level was found in chemotherapy treatment and outpatient rooms. Patients felt comfortable with a neat, clean, conducive hospital environment and the implementation of health protocols, believing that these aspects could effectively prevent the spread of COVID-19. Conclusions: The results of this study suggested that dimension of patients’ comfort are influenced by multiple aspects. Nursing services are recommended to optimize and improve controllable variables to maintain a higher level of comfort. Interventions that maintain or improve comfort will optimize patients’ health conditions.