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In Thailand, most patients with cancer primarily receive in-home care from their family members. However, information regarding the quality of life (QoL) of the primary family-member caregivers is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to assess primary family-member caregivers’ QoL and its association with self-efficacy and social support using a Thai version of the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC).

This hospital-based cross-sectional study was performed at a teaching hospital in Bangkok. Questionnaires were administered to 178 primary family-member caregivers of patients with cancer between June 2015 and July 2016, and their QoL was measured using a Thai translation of the CQOLC made by the research team. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed using SPSS software (version 18).

Approximately 79.8 percent of primary family-member caregivers were female, 86.0 percent were 18-51 years old. In total, 52.8 percent reported having a good QoL, 60.1 percent reported a moderate level of perceived self-efficacy, and 56.7 percent reported a high level of perceived social support for providing care. Primary family-member caregivers, who provided care for male cancer patients and were co-responsible for covering the patient’s cost of care, had a lower level of perceived self-efficacy and perceived social support. They also reported having poorer QoL. The patients’ characteristics were more strongly associated with the family-member caregivers’ QoL, than the family-member caregivers’ characteristics, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived social support.

Approximately 50 percent of primary family-member caregivers reported having a good QoL. Healthcare providers should incorporate the self-efficacy concept to help improve primary family caregiver’s self-efficacy to provide care to patients with cancer, especially for individuals who are caring for male patients, and provide counseling for primary family-member caregivers regarding ways to obtain the necessary social and financial support to improve their QoL.

This study aimed to assess the sleep quality and its associated factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a private hospital in Yangon, Myanmar.

A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 289 T2DM patients were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. An English version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was translated into Myanmar and used for assessing sleep quality.

Approximately 48.4% of T2DM patients had poor sleep quality (PSQI score > 5). The mean ± SD of the PSQI global score was 5.97 ± 3.45. About 36.0% of participants reported the presence of diabetes complications, and 14.9% used sleep medication. About 27.7% had depression and 8.3% had poor family relationships. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the presence of complications (AOR = 1.86; 95%CI; 1.04–3.35), poor family relationships (AOR = 5.09; 95%CI; 1.55–16.68) and depression (AOR = 7.52; 95%CI; 3.83–14.76) were significantly associated with poor sleep quality.

The prevalence of poor sleep quality is rather high among T2DM patients. Healthcare personnel and hospital administrators should focus on the complication status, family relationships and depression status of T2DM patients by providing regular screening for sleep quality and depression and by providing a program of sleep health education and counselling at diabetic clinics

This study seeks to use a knowledge management (KM) model as a tool to improve the quality of service in a hemodialysis unit.

A quasi‐experimental, one group pre‐test‐post‐test study was conducted over a period of ten months at a hemodialysis unit. All of the staff in the unit, and all of the patients who came for hemodialysis at the outpatient department during the study period, were invited to participate. Self‐administered questionnaires were used to measure staff job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. SF‐36v2 was used to assess patient quality of life (QoL). Wilcoxon's matched pairs test and paired t‐test were used to compare staff job satisfaction, and patient satisfaction with service quality, before and after implementing KM. A within‐subject repeated‐measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess changes in patient QoL. The chi‐square test was used to compare rates of hemodialysis complications before and after implementing KM.

After implementing KM, staff job satisfaction and patient satisfaction with services, increased significantly. Three QoL domains – role limitations due to physical and emotional problems, and vitality – at three and six months post‐intervention applying KM to daily work, had improved significantly. Complications per hemodialysis episode had also reduced.

The paper focuses on intervention that applied KM to staff providing care for patients with hemodialysis to improve care and outcomes.