COVID-19 Outbreak and Cancer Related Questions
87.7% of the participants thought that COVID-19 disease would progress
more seriously in cancer patients, 10% said they were not sure. During
the COVID-19 epidemic period, half of the cancer patients who were in
control left the time of the control tests to their doctors, while
38.6% stated that their examinations should be done on time, although
there is a risk of transmission. Half of the cancer patients who
participated in the questionnaire thought that the COVID-19 outbreak did
not prevent the treatment of cancer patients from continuing. However,
27.3% thought it was an obstacle. While half of patients were concerned
about the continuation of cancer treatment during the outbreak, half
expressed no concern. The majority of those who were concerned expressed
that they were more afraid of the COVID-19 transmission than disruption
of their cancer treatments. The majority of patients ( 70%) said they
did not think about our question about whether you thought of delaying
your cancer treatment. When asked whether your oncology doctor informed
you about COVID-19 disease, 48.7% of patients said they informed us,
42% said they did not inform us. All of the patients said they wore
masks when they left the house during the outbreak. The majority of
patients (72.7%) stated that they came to the hospital with a
companion, while 14.5% said they came alone. About 95% of patients
stated they were paying attention to social distance with other people.
While 82.7% of the patients thought that they took the necessary
precautions to protect against the disease, 15% stated that they
applied partially. During the period of the COVID-19 outbreak, the
majority of cancer patients (60.9%) expressed that they did not receive
supportive products (Table 4.1 and 4.2).
The relation between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge
about COVID-19 is demonstrated in table 5. Nearly similar knowledge mean
scores were observed for male and female participants (9.93 ± 1.54 and
9.88 ± 1.56) with no statistically signifant difference. Also there were
no statistically significant differences in information scores according
to age groups and marital status (p> 0.05). In the same
way, there was no statistical difference in information scores according
to their marital status (p= 0.06). The knowledge mean scores were
significantly related to the level of education (p<0.001).
Contributors in the survey with university or higher education had
significantly higher knowledge mean scores compared to those with lower
levels of education. There was no statistically significant difference
between the participants’ knowledge score and who they lived with and
whether they were actively working or not (p>0.05).