A COMPARISON OF THE HEALTH-PROMOTING LIFE-STYLE PROFILE OF OVARIAN-CANCER PATIENTS AND HEALTHY WOMEN

Ovarian cancer is a lethal malignancy, rarely diagnosed early, and there is currently little, if any, preventive strategies which can be followed. This study attempts to identify lifestyle profiles which might be associated with ovarian cancer, and could then be subject to subsequent modification in an effort to prevent or decrease the incidence of this disease. The Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) questionnaire which is a multidimensional measure of lifestyle was administered to a 'well population' and to patients with the known and confirmed diagnosis of ovarian cancer. HPLP is a multidimensional measure of lifestyle which looks at self-actualization, health responsibility, exercise, nutrition, interpersonal support and stress management. It provides an objective lifestyle profile of individuals and groups of individuals. A t-test for independent samples was performed using the SPSSX statistical program. The separate variance t-test was used. The t-values of self-actualization, interpersonal support, health responsibility and exercise factors were significant at the 0.05 level. Patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer had significantly lower scores compared to those of healthy women. The t-value of the nutrition and stress management scores were not significantly different. This retrospective study strongly suggests that there is a lower score on the HPLP questionnaire for self-actualization, health promotion and lifestyle, interpersonal support, exercise and health responsibility for patients with ovarian cancer, as compared to healthy controls. There is no relationship between the subscores of nutrition and stress management, and the development of ovarian cancer. This would suggest there is a relationship between lifestyle and the development of ovarian cancer.