Table 1.
Participants’ characteristics (N = 92)
| Variables | N | % | Mean | SD | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 67.8 | 8.74 | 48–85 | ||
| Sex | |||||
| Female | 28 | 30.4 | |||
| Male | 64 | 69.6 | |||
| Education level | |||||
| Primary school | 45 | 48.9 | |||
| Junior high school | 22 | 23.9 | |||
| High school | 25 | 27.2 | |||
| Marital status | |||||
| Unmarried/widow | 9 | 9.8 | |||
| Married | 83 | 90.2 | |||
| Employment | |||||
| Unemployed | 3 | 3.3 | |||
| Employed | 20 | 21.7 | |||
| Retired | 69 | 75.0 | |||
| Monthly income (US$) | |||||
| 0 | 66 | 71.6 | |||
| (0,1000] | 11 | 12.0 | |||
| ≥1001 | 15 | 16.4 | |||
| Practice a religion | |||||
| No | 15 | 16.3 | |||
| Yes | 77 | 83.7 | |||
| Taoist | 49 | 63.6 | |||
| Buddhist | 18 | 23.4 | |||
| Christian | 4 | 5.2 | |||
| Catholic | 1 | 1.3 | |||
| Kuan Taoist | 5 | 6.5 | |||
| BCLC stage | |||||
| A | 44 | 47.8 | |||
| B | 37 | 40.2 | |||
| C | 11 | 12 | |||
| Liver function (Child-Pugh) | |||||
| A | 76 | 82.6 | |||
| B and C | 16 | 17.4 | |||
| First-time TACE | |||||
| No | 70 | 76.1 | |||
| Yes | 22 | 23.9 | |||
| Duration of diagnosis (months) | 27.42 | 31.03 | 0-148 | ||
| Number of TACE treatments received | 2.82 | 3.36 | 0–17 | ||
| Length of hospital stay (days) | 7.04 | 2.78 | 3–15 | ||
| SDs | 32.08 | 6.22 | 25–49 | ||
| Hope | 27.09 | 3.51 | 19–35 | ||
| Overall QOL | 55.16 | 17.33 | 13–86 | ||
| Physical health domain | 17.43 | 6.21 | 2–27 | ||
| Social/family domain | 11.25 | 4.08 | 0–25 | ||
| Emotional domain | 15.11 | 5.58 | 2–24 | ||
| Functional domain | 11.37 | 5.46 | 1–25 |
Note: BCLC = Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; QOL = quality of life; SD = standard deviation; SDs = symptom distress