الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), also known as hyper
androgenic anovulation (HA or Stein-Leventhal syndrome). It is a
well-recognized and the most common endocrine disorder among
women of reproductive age (12-45 years old). It is affecting 5–10% of
this population that offers no cure. It is a syndrome of ovarian
dysfunction associated with hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovary
morphology. The underlying etiology of PCOS is still unknown and
PCOS remains a heterogeneous disorder that present differently in the
affected women (Amiri et al., 2019).
Women with polycystic ovary syndrome face serious
complications if not resolved well. The symptoms typically associated
with polycystic ovary syndrome such as acne, hirsutism, irregular
menses, amenorrhoea, obesity and subfertility are a major source of
psychological morbidity and can negatively affect quality of life
(QOL). It may also influence the feminine identity of patients with
PCOS. Indeed, the diagnosis of PCOS has been found to be associated
with feelings of frustration and anxiety (Aliasghari et al., 2017).
The nurses directly or indirectly play an important role in
evaluating and improving the patients QOL throughout the PCOS. In
addition to this, the nurses represent a broad range of care settings and
diverse specialty areas including clinical practice, education,
administration and research. So, the nurses are key providers of PCOS
care. Hence, their respective on quality of life for polycystic ovary
syndrome patients are very important (King and Hinds, 2015).
The purpose of the present study was to assess quality of life
among women with polycystic ovary syndrome. The present study
was conducted at the outpatient clinics of gynecology and infertility of
Menoufia University Hospital and Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital
in Menoufia Governorate. A descriptive design was used to carry out
the present study.
A purposive sample of 140 woman participated in the study (75
women from Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital and 65 women from
Menoufia University Hospital) who attended the outpatient clinics of
gynecology and infertility.
The inclusion criteria of the study participants were:
1) Women medically diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome.
2) Women free from any other medical problems.
3) Women married at average reproductive age of 18-45 years old.
Throughout the course of the present study, the data were collected
using the following instruments:-
I. A structured interviewing Questionnaire (Appendix I):
This instrument was developed by the researcher to obtain
complete data about the women. The instrument consisted of the
following three parts and contained 14 questions as follows:
Part 1: Socio-demographic data (questions1-4): It included age,
marital status, educational level and occupation.
Part II: Obstetric and gynecological history (questions 5-12): It
included the menstrual history, obstetric and gynecological
history in terms of number of previous pregnancies &
labor, any previous pregnancy & labor complications,number of children, appearance of any symptoms of
polycystic ovary syndrome and duration of PCOS
symptoms.
Part III: Family history (questions 13-14): It included the data related
to any cases diagnosed with PCOS in the family and any
complications related to it.
II. A modified health-related quality of life questionnaire for
women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOSQ) (Appendix II):
It was adapted from Cronin et al., (1998) and Guyatt et al.,
(2004). It was modified by the researcher and translated to Arabic
language and reviewed by a jury. The instrument evaluated the impact
of the problems associated with PCOS upon the quality of life.
This instrument consisted of 40 statements, every woman had
three responses for each statement in which score (1) represents sever
problem ”poorest function ”, score (2) represents some problem and
score (3) represents no problem ”optimal function ”. Domains of
health- related quality of life questionnaire grouped for women with
PCOS (PCOSQ) into 3 domains (psychological, physiological, and
social wellbeing).
Approaches to ensuring ethics were considered in the study
regarding confidentiality and informed consent. The researcher
introduced herself to the study participants and explained the purpose
of the study in order to obtain their acceptance to be recruited in the
study as well as to gain their cooperation.
Confidentiality was achieved by the use of closed sheets with
the names of the participants replaced by numbers. All women were
informed that the information they provided during the study would bekept confidential and used only for statistical purpose and after
finishing the study, the findings were presented as a group data with
no personal participant’s information remained.
After explanation prior to enrollment in the study, informed
consent was obtained from all women. Each woman was informed
that participation in the study was voluntary, and that she could
withdraw from the study whenever she decided to and each one was
given the opportunity to freely refuse the participation. They were free
to ask any question about the study details.
Upon completion of data collection, each answer was coded and
scored. The researcher coded the data into a coding sheet so that data
could be prepared for computer use. Data was statistically analyzed
using (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 22, SPSS
Inc. Chicago, IL, USA).
The findings of this study succeeded in answering the research
question that what is the quality of life among women with polycystic
ovary syndrome?
The findings of the present study showed that:
More than half of the study participants (60.7%) experienced
poor quality of life (psychological, physiological and social
QOL domains).
More than half of the study participants (55.7%) experienced
poor psychological domain of QOL.
Half of the study participants (50.0%) experienced poor
physiological domain of QOL.
Less than half of the study participants (43.6%) experienced
poor social domain of QOL.There were no statistically significant differences between the
women socio-demographic characteristics in terms of age,
education, occupation & the total QOL domains (P<0.05).
There were no statistically significant differences between the
regularity of menstrual cycle, previous pregnancy complications
& the total quality of life domains (P<0.05). Also, there was a
highly statistically significant difference between gravidity,
parity, number of living children & the total QOL domains
(P=0.001).
There were statistically significant differences between the
previous delivery complications & the total quality of life
domains (P=0.031).
There were no statistically significant differences between the
symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome, duration of PCOS
symptoms & the total quality of life domains (P<0.05).
There was positive correlation between the total quality of life
and gravidity, parity and number of living children (r<0.2)
while, there was negative correlation between the total quality
of life and the complications in the previous delivery(r=-0.209).
Therefore, polycystic ovarian syndrome has a negative impact on
women’s quality of life.
Recommendations: Based on the findings of the present study, the
following recommendations were suggested:
- Improve the women‟s knowledge concerning PCOS toward stress
management and lifestyle modifications. The need for a hospital basedsupport group as psychologists and consultants for women with PCOS
to improve their psychological indexes such as quality of life. Further
research should be recommended to further setting using a larger
sample.