FATIGUE IN EARLy STAGE AmONG JORDANIAN PATIENTS wITh CANCER RECEIVING ChEmOThERAPy

The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the impact of Chemotherapy on fatigue in Jordanian cancer patients, and (2) to chemotherapy related fatigue (CRF) with selected demographic variables such as age, sex, marital status, income, level of education, type of cancer, stage of disease , type of chemotherapy, body mass index, smoking and hemoglobin level. One group quasi-experimental co-relational design was used with 43 patients who had been diagnosed with cancer and required Chemotherapy treatment. Fatigue was measured using Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS). Data was collected over a period of six months and analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-test, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Statistically significant differences were found between total fatigue scores as well as on behavioral, affective, sensory, and cognitive dimensions of PFS, before starting chemotherapy treatment and after 4 weeks from receiving the first dose of chemotherapy treatment.