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Quality of Life (QOL) has recently become one of the most important focuses in oncology nursing practice and research. On October 15, 2006, Cancer has ranked number 2 in the top 10 killing diseases in the Philippines. As future nurses, we are the cancer care professionals who approach patients as individuals who experience cancer in all aspects of their lives: physiologic, emotional, sensory and behavioral. This study sought understanding of the relationships among age, treatment, stage and type of cancer and patient reports of symptom distress and quality of life.

In order to come up with a symptom and quality of life assessment, three sets of questionnaires were given. These are Symptom Distress Scale, Quality of Life Scale and Demographic Data.

Results were subjected to statistical analysis in order to determine whether there is a significant difference between QOL and SD scores, age, treatment, stage and type of cancer among cancer patients. It also aims to find out the main symptoms generally felt by patients, the part of their quality of life mostly interfered, and the area of concerns they are most affected. Results showed that patients commonly exhibit symptoms such as anxiety, pain, fatigue, sadness and disturbance of sleep which have brought a major interference in their general activity work and enjoyment in life.

The findings about the symptoms that cause great distress to cancer patients will give health care practitioners a guide and focus in assessing and giving the most effective care and symptom relief to these patients, regardless of type, stage and treatment. The identified disturbances in the quality in life will also help health care practitioners in determining which concern has the highest priority to make in order to give the best quality of care in assisting the cancer patients cope with distress and live a more healthy life despite the presence of cancer.

Results also confirmed that patients are most concerned in the emotional aspect. A method of linear correlation was used to determine relationships between symptom distress and patient’s age, treatment, stage and type of cancer and quality of life. However, the p-values that is all greater than 0.05 indicating that none of these paired variables are significantly correlated. Thus, there were no significant relationships between age, stage of cancer, symptom distress and quality of life.