Effect of Instructing Care Program Through Group Discussion on the Quality of Life of the Parents of the Children Afflicted With Leukemia

Abstract

Purpose:Children long-term involvement with cancer may have a negative impact on the quality of life their parents. Design and implementation of training programs for parents whose children have been diagnosed with leukemia, as the primary caregivers of children, will have a special significance and can contribute to better taking care of such children. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of conducting group discussion, as care program training, on the quality of life parents whose children were suffering from leukemia.Methods:This quasi-experimental before-after intervention study encompassed two groups of parents (in total 41) of leukemia children. To collect data, a demographic questionnaire and the shortened version of SF-36 questionnaire were used to determine the quality of life of parents. Both groups completed the quality of life questionnaires before and two months after the intervention.Results:Comparison of the parents’ quality of life mean scores, obtained before and two months after training, showed that promotion in 6 domains of bodily pain, general health, emotional health, role limitation due to emotional problems, social functioning, and vitality were occurred. (P <0.05)Conclusions:Considering the important role of parents in taking care of children suffering from leukemia, introduction of care program training can be a positive step to help these parents and empower them to manage their children’s problems more systematically and will ultimately lead to improved quality of life of parents.

A review of psychosocial interventions targeting families of children with cancer

“…The children's ages in all studies (shown in Table 2) ranged from 7 to 14 years except in one study, where the age of five patients ranged from 11 to 18 years (Svavarsdottir and Sigurdardottir, 2013). All studies involved caregivers of pediatric patients with hematologic and solid malignancies except one study that included only leukemia (Asadi Noughabi et al, 2015). The timing of subjects' enrollment was specified in most studies and ranged between 2 and 24 weeks post-diagnosis.…”

“…Other outcomes Improvement in the QoL was shown in one QE study examining the effect of eight group sessions of cancer care program training on improving the parents' QoL (Asadi Noughabi et al, 2015). Two studies, aiming to educate families of children with cancer about cancer treatment, resulted in increased cancer-related knowledge after the cancer educational intervention (Othman et al, 2010;Sigurdardottir et al, 2014).…”

Caregiver Stress, Coping Strategies, and Support Needs of Mothers Caring for their Children Who Are Undergoing Active Cancer Treatments

“…They were in distress when they had to watch their children suffer through treatments and their side effects and felt strong negative emotions such as shock, anger, and fear regarding the conditions and prognoses (Ljungman et al, 2016). Other sources of stress included information overload regarding cancer (Kästel, Enskär, & Björk, 2011) and inadequate parenting capacities such as low income and weak social support systems (Noughabi, Iranpoor, Yousefi, Abrakht, & Dehkordi, 2015).…”

Psychological treatment for family members of children with cancer: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Figure S1 presents a PRISMA flow diagram summarizing the complete screening and selection process of the studies. Forty articles met the selection criteria, 22 being RCTs and 18 being uncontrolled trials , . The 40 articles produced a total of 40 treatment groups and 21 control groups.…”

“…As for siblings, problem‐solving skills training, cognitive restructuring, and coping skills training have been used . In addition to cognitive‐behavioral techniques, psychoeducational interventions have been applied to both parents and siblings, focused on providing information on cancer, treatments, and possible long‐term sequelae …”