ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1599001
Chronic Stressors and Quality of Life in Elderly Women with Uterine Leiomyoma: A Qualitative Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Neonatology, International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
- 2Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo Original Diseases, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
- 3International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
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Objective: Uterine leiomyomas are common benign tumors in elderly women. This study aimed to investigate chronic stressors among elderly uterine leiomyoma patients and analyze factors influencing their quality of life (QoL). Materials and Methods: Using a qualitative analysis approach, 28 elderly inpatients were recruited as the observation group (OG), and 20 randomly selected inpatients formed the control group (CG). Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to extract key influencing factors and stress themes. Psychological impactssuch as anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances-were identified as reported during thematic interviews. Results: Elderly patients reported chronic stressors related to health management, financial burden, family roles, and lack of social support. These significantly affected their psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction. OG patients reported more severe impacts compared to the CG. Conclusion: Effective QoL improvement strategies should include psychological support during treatment, targeted education for patients and families, and assistance in managing life stressors.
Keywords: elderly uterine leiomyoma, Chronic stressors, Quality of Life, Influencing factors, qualitative analysis
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guo, Huang, Fan, Yu and Tuo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nan Tuo, Department of Neonatology, International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai, 200000, Shanghai Municipality, China
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