The opinion of the physicians and nurses who participated in this study converged with the principal national and international guidelines on palliative sedation. However, even though it is a therapy that has been adopted in palliative care, it remains a controversial practice.
Objectives: The objective was to assess the stress levels of parents of children with cancer and to identify correlations among demographic data and anxiety levels. Methods: A descriptive, crosssectional study, conducted in two Brazilian institutions, with 101 parents of children with cancer.Through interviews, parents responded to two instruments: Pediatric Inventory for Parents -Brazilian version, which assesses stress levels, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, for the measurement of anxiety. The correlations between the instruments and the sociodemographic variables of the parents and children were evaluated using the Spearman correlation coefficient.Results: Higher levels of stress and anxiety were seen by young parents, young children and with less time since diagnosis. The fear of death and the disease impact on the life of a child were the events considered the most stressful for the parents. Conclusions: In clinical practice, the nurse who can identify the occurrence of these symptoms becomes capable of planning nursing care that includes the family in decisions about the care. Moreover, she can provide support to help parents manage their stress levels and positively face the illness of their children.
In our society we are still not able to provide hospice care or home care for all children, although increasing emphasis has been placed on utilizing local resources. Even though we had increased the number of desired home deaths, it is still a challenge to meet patients and families' requests. A team approach, the recognition of the factors involved, and adequate health and community support have helped us to meet the child and family's needs.
A pediatric palliative care score based on easily accessible variables is statistically significant in multivariate analysis. Factors that increase accuracy of life expectancy prediction enable adequate information to be given to patients and families, contributing to therapeutic decision-making issues.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.