Impact of an Activity-Based Program on Health, Quality of Life, and Occupational Performance of Women Diagnosed With Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the impact of a 1-wk activity program on the health, quality of life (QOL), and occupational performance of community-living women diagnosed with cancer.

METHOD: A one-group pretest-posttest repeated-measures design was used. Participants completed a functional health measure (36-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]), a QOL measure (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief version [WHOQOL-BREF]), and an occupational performance and satisfaction measure (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure [COPM]) before and 6 wk after program completion. The COPM was also administered on Day 5.

RESULTS: Paired t tests for the SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF showed no significant differences, except for the WHOQOL-BREF's Social Relationships subscale (p < .008). Repeated-measures analyses of variance showed a significant difference in COPM performance and satisfaction scores (p < .001).

CONCLUSION: The activity program effectively improved occupational performance and satisfaction and social relationships of community-living women diagnosed with cancer.