Social participation in head and neck cancer survivors with swallowing disorder: World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 study.

Background Social function and quality of life were negatively impacted by the sequelae of treatment for the disease in the head and neck cancer survivor with swallowing disorder. Method Data from a total of 1023 survivors between July 2012 and November 2017 were collected from the Taiwan Data Bank of Persons with Disability. Nonparametric rank F test was used to analyze the influence of different variables on social participation. Results (a) All WHODAS (World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule) 2.0 scores revealed significantly increased difficulty when swallowing impairment increased (P < .001). (b) Unemployment, institutionalization, severity of swallowing impairment, cancer sites, and WHODAS 2.0 score of domains 1 to 4 were negatively related to social participation, while living in rural area is related to increased social participation. Conclusions Social participation was negatively affected by many variables in this population. Among these variables, cancer sites and WHODAS 2.0 score of domains 1 to 4 were the strongest factors.