Quality of life for Children with Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy

Abstract

Summary C ancer is a life- threatening illness; children undergoing cancer treatment such chemothereapy perceives a variety of physical, psychological, and social change that influence their lives. The incidence of children with cancer is increasing and mortality rate among the affected children increases more than an estimated 175,300 new cancer cases occurred among children aged 0-14 in 2013(According to estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). QOL of cancer is a function of social, emotional and behavioral processes involving adaptation to the issues imposed over time by the concrete physical and social realities of the disease (Arslan et al., 2013). Aim of the study: This study aimed to assess QOL for children under going of chemotherapy I-Research Design: Research Settings: A descriptive study aimed to assess QOL for children under going for chemotherapy and was conducted at the Oncology Outpatient Clinic in children Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University and National Cancer Institute affiliated to Cairo University. Subjects: A Purposive sample that composed of 60 children confirmed diagnosis with cancer and undergoing of chemotherapy attending the previously mentioned setting over a period of 6 months. The criteria of the study inclusive involved children; aged from 6 to 18 years Technical design: Data collection Tools: Data was colleted through in the following tools:- 1- A Pre-Designed Questionnaire Sheet (Appendix, I): It was developed by the researcher after reviewing relevant literature. It was written in simple Arabic language to suit level of understanding of the studied sample to collect data regarding the following: • Demographic characteristics of the studied children including; age, gender, educational level, ranking, residence, ….etc. • Studied children's knowledge about disease, causes and chemotherapy, action, reaction …etc. Scoring system: Regarding the knowledge of the studied sample, 100 scores were allocated to all items of the questionnaire. Then the answers were checked with a key answer and accordingly the studied sample knowledge were categorized into three levels: good (75), Average (50>75) and poor (< 50%). 2- Quality of Life (QOL) inventory scale: (appendix, III) It was adopted from (Varni, 2003) used to determine the level of QOL for children undergoing of chemotherapy. QOL scale consists of five items (physical, social, psychological, school functioning and general well-being). The scores were ranged from (0-4) with zero representing never has a problem, (1) representing almost never has a problem, (2) representing sometimes has a problem, (3) representing often has a problem, and (4) representing almost always has a problem. The items of the four scales (Physical functioning, Emotional functioning, Social functioning and School functioning) on the peds QL Generic Scale, for case of interpretability, items are reversed scored and linearly transformed to a 0-100 scale. So that higher scores indicate better QOL. To reverse score, transform the 0-4 scale item to 0-100 as follows: 0 = 100, 1 = 75, 2 = 50, 3 = 25 and 4 = 0. The QOL for children undergoing chemiotherapy will b