Because of disease characteristics and surgical procedure type, it is easy to cause facial disfigurement or functional disability that would resulting shame and perception of stigma, and may impact the social interaction of patients with oral cancer. The purpose of this study was explored the impact of social interaction and related factors among oral cancer patients after surgery.
Methods:
The cross-sectional design was used. A total of 383 patients who were diagnosed oral cancer and underwent oral surgery recruited from a general hospital in southern Taiwan. Data was collected from February 01 to November 30 2017 by face to face interview using a self- reported structured questionnaire. Outcome measurements included the social interaction impact scale, shame and stigma scale, personal characteristics and medical related variables. The social interaction impact scale consisted 13 items, and divided to two subscales. , The response range was 0-10, total score ranging from 0 to 130. Data were analyzed with independent t-test, One Way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation and linear regression. The higher score indicated patient have the higher social interaction impact.
Results:
The mean score of social interaction impact was 31.42(SD=26.12) with a range score from 0-115. There were a significantly different between cancer staging, age, job, surgical procedure type and social interaction impact. In the stepwise regression model, six factors were the predictors of social interaction impact, included the shame of appearance (32.9%), social and speech concerns (18.8%), cancer stage IV (1.3%), marital status (1.0%), perceived social stigma (6%), and tumor sites in the tongue, mouth floor and hard palate (5%), and account for 55.2% total variance.
Conclusion:
This study might provide appropriate evidence regarding the perception of appearance change was the vital issue impacted the social interaction in oral cancer patients. Health care professional should consider these factors and embedded in discharge planning of oral cancer patients after oral surgery.