Understanding the healthcare experiences of teenaged cancer patients and survivors

Abstract

Understanding teenagers' experiences in the paediatric oncology setting provides information that could be used to shape the delivery of healthcare in a way that is tailored to their needs. Further research in this area is required in order to improve existing oncology care.

Experiences of adolescents living with cancer: A descriptive qualitative study

“…The importance of making friends in the ward also concurred with that of Mitchell et al's (2006) study, whereby 71% of the children and young people felt that making friends with other children with cancer in the ward was important. Akin to previous studies (Farjou et al, 2014;Fern et al, 2013;Mitchell et al, 2006) that highlighted opportunities to interact with other adolescents as an unmet need, the adolescents in our study also reported that they found it hard to make friends in the ward as most patients were babies. The adolescents in this study complained that due to fatigue, visiting specialized facilities such as the teen room was an issue.…”

The Childhood Cancer Centre Is Coming Home: Experiences of Hospital-Based Home Care

“…The results of our study and previous research emphasise that healthcare professionals should be interested and able to adapt care actions to the child’s daily form [ 28 ]. This is further reinforced by Farjou et al [ 29 ], who state children consider the attitude of the healthcare professionals and how they communicate to be important. It turned out that many children wanted the healthcare professionals to be friendly, helpful and caring and have a positive attitude.…”

Experiencias de vivir con cáncer para los adolescentes, adultos jóvenes y sus familias: revisión narrativa y síntesis

“…Age-appropriate settings and specialist services were often viewed as ideal, but not always available in specific contexts. Identifying service preferences and gaps with AYAs and their families is an important priority for future research and practice development (31,22,16,32,17,18,19,33,29,30). Specifically, the impact that different care environments have on family involvement in care and availability of psychosocial support for both AYAs and their family are areas that require attention.…”

“…Ten studies described the need for information and support, leading up to and following a diagnosis of cancer (31,22,16,32,17,18,19,33,29,30). For example, participants reported that healthcare professionals' attitudes and the way they communicated were often inappropriate.…”

“…This study also found that these specific needs of having an age-appropriate environment and psychosocial support varied over time and throughout the cancer journey and were unique to each person. It was clear from Olsson's (33) study and other reviewed studies (31,22,16,32,17,18,19,29,30) that these needs were not being met. AYAs wanted the hospital environment to be different and equipped for them and to be cared for within an area where there were people of their own age.…”