The objective of this predictive correlation study was to investigate the predictive power of preoperative serum albumin, postoperative risk of malnutrition, postoperative body mass index, and postoperative weight change on postoperative quality of life (QOL) in patients with gastrointestinal cancer using three main scales; functional scales, symptom scales, and global health and QOL scale. The Roy Adaptation model was used as a research framework. Eighty-five patients with gastrointestinal cancer who had undergone surgery at a super tertiary hospital were recruited using purposive sampling. The research instruments consisted of 1) a personal data form 2) Nutritional status form and Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and 3) The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 (EORCT QOL-C30). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis with enter method.
The results revealed that preoperative serum albumin, postoperative weight change, postoperative malnutrition risk, and postoperative body mass index can jointly explain 17% (R2 = .17, F = 4.143; p < .01), 13% (R2 = .132, F = 3.035; p < .05), and 12% (R2 = .120, F = 2.734; p < .05) of the variance in postoperative functional QOL scales, symptom QOL scales, and global health and QOL scale, respectively.
The suggestions from this study are that nurses should closely evaluate and monitor these nutritional factors both the preoperative and postoperative phases in order to promote patients’ postoperative QOL in hospital by receiving adequate nutritional support.