Guided image for quality of life of women with cervical cancer: quasi-experimental study

Introduction: Mind-body therapies, such as guided imagery relaxation, which are among the main integrative practices used by cancer patients, are essential for maintaining a healthy balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic arousal in the brain. Objective: To evaluate the effect of guided image relaxation, with the use of virtual reality, on the health-related quality of life of women with cervical cancer undergoing concomitant treatment with chemoradiotherapy. Materials and Method: A quasi-experimental study, carried out in an oncology referral hospital in southern Brazil, from October 2019 to January 2021. 52 women participated, divided into two groups, experimental (relaxation intervention guided by imagery with virtual reality), and control (default routine). The Functional instrument was used to assess health-related quality of life scores. Assessment of Cancer therapy cervix cancer, applied before, 14 days after and at the end of treatment, in approximately 35 days. The analyzes were performed using the mixed generalized linear model, with an autoregressive covariance matrix of order 1, and the significance was confirmed by the Sidak test. Results:There was a statistically significant difference for the experimental group in the physical (p =0.02), functional (p =0.00), specific symptoms of cervical cancer and treatment effects (p =0.03) and overall quality of life (p =0.02). Conclusion: Guided Image Relaxation contributed to an improvement in the Health -Related Quality of Life of patients with cervical cancer during treatment with chemoradiation.