Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents with Cancer

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was done to provide basic data for developing nursing interventions to enhance quality of life of pediatric patients with cancer (children and adolescents) by examining the quality of life and related factors. METHODS: Participants were 134; 67 pediatric patients and 67 parents. The PedsQL(TM) 3.0 Cancer Module was employed to measure quality of life in the participants. The related factors included general and clinical characteristics of the participants. RESULTS: Mean score for quality of life in the patients was 75.07, and mean score for patient quality of life as perceived by their parents was 64.40. Among the quality of life subscales, treatment anxiety had the highest score whereas nausea had the lowest score. Mean score in adolescent patients (13-18 years of age) was 71.62, lower than the 78.04 for child patients (8-12 years of age). Regarding general and clinical characteristics of the participants, there were no significant differences in the scores. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that there is difference in perception of quality of life between patients and their parents, and between children and adolescents and these differences should be taken into account when planning and providing nursing care.