Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the psychosomatic symptoms, the difficulties of daily life, and the degree of QOL and anxiety of family members of patients with postoperative gastric cancers, and clarify the relationships among them. Twenty-nine pairs of patients who received outpatient treatment at a university hospital and their families were recruited and agreed to participate in the study. The patients responded to a questionnaire evaluating psychosomatic symptoms, and the families responded to two questionnaires on quality of life and anxiety. Relationships emerged between the gastric cancer patients' "physical and psychological symptoms" and families' "trait anxiety", and patients' "physical and psychological symptoms" and families' "physical domain" of QOL. Nurses need to offer information on relieving symptoms, listen to patients' anxieties or sufferings, coordinate family relationships, and assess families' physical conditions for family members to maintain health and be able to function as caregivers.
