Quality of life and persons with melanoma

Abstract
The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate variables associated with quality of life as perceived by persons diagnosed with melanoma and to test the following hypotheses: 1) symptom distress is inversely associated with quality of life; 2) social dependency is inversely associated with quality of life; and 3) behavior-morale is positively associated with quality of life. Quality of life was defined as the degree of satisfaction with present life circumstances perceived by the person. A convenience sample of 23 subjects participated in the study. The majority of subjects had a high probability of recurrent disease in the future. The hypotheses of the study were supported, and associations between the major variables and quality of life were found to be statistically significant.