Effect of Supportive Care on Controlling Fears of Children with Cancer

Abstract

Nurses can be primary advocates for children with cancer and their families, through identifying and responding to families and children's needs, providing support care and information for difficult decisions, giving hope, and promoting highest quality of care. The supportive care includes listening, fostering respect for the child and parent across the organization, nurturing collaborative connections, managing uncertainty, tolerating ambiguity, making peace with conflict, and committing to self-care. It is not an alternative to curative or anticancer treatment, so children with cancer can receive both supportive care and curative treatment at the same time. Aim of the study: To assess the effect of supportive care on controlling the fears of children with cancer Through ; Assessing the sources of fears and signs and symptoms denoting fears among children with cancer ; assessing the psychological condition of children with cancer ; their level of loneliness, anxiety and depression ; providing the supportive intervention for children with cancer ; and evaluating the effect of supportive care on the children’s fears and their psychological condition. Setting: This study was carried out at Oncology Children Hospital 57357. Subjects: A sample of convenience of 35 children with cancer, from both sexes and their age ranged between 6-12 years were recruited for the study. Tools of data collection involved: 1) An interviewing questionnaire designed by the researchers to collect information about: children's and parents' demographic data, sources of children’s fears, signs and symptoms denoting fears among children. 2) Psychometric measures such as loneliness, anxiety and depression scales were used to assess children's psychological condition. They were interviewed individually. Results: Findings of the study revealed that the highest percentage of children's age ranged between 6 -< 8 years and almost two thirds of children were males. There are statistically significant differences between pre/post intervention in relation to sources, manifestations of fears, and psychological condition of children. Conclusions / Recommendations: Supporting care had positive effect on controlling the sources and manifestations of fears among children with cancer and improving their psychological condition. Emphasis on the importance of applying supportive care in conjunction with curative care for children with cancer to identify and detect the warning signs of children's