QUALITY OF LIFE AND UNCERTATINTY TOWARDS DISEASE: A NURSING STRUCTURAL MODEL

Abstract

A nursing structural model that relates quality of life concept and uncertainty level towards cancer as disease is presented; this model is meant to be applied in patients with Breast Cancer, Cervical Cancer, and Gallbladder Cancer, attending Guillermo Grant Benavente Hospital Oncology Unit, from Concepcion Health Service. Its formulation is part of a Nursing Doctoral Thesis from University of Concepcion, aiming to find out about the influence concerning the uncertainty level in quality of life of these patients. This model discuss the conceptual facts of the quality of life construct and uncertainty level, based on L. Schwartzmann and M. Mishel models, as respectively, proposing a dynamic integration of both ones. The proposed model will be empirically assessed during the period the doctoral thesis lasts, in order to be included in patients with cancer diagnosis assessment and nursing intervention, as well, so intended to improve the quality of life in these women