Effect of nursing intervention on stressors and coping patterns of children suffering from cancer and their mothers

Abstract

Cancer is a chronic, long-term illness that affects not only the child but also the family and the community as a whole. Caring for a child with cancer brings an enormous physical, psychological, social stressors and financial burden upon the family. Nurses must be keenly aware of the ongoing responses, needs, stressors and coping patterns of the child suffering from cancer and his/her mother. A nurse can support the family by respecting them and serve as a support by making referrals, providing information through continuous health education about the illness and its management and allowing emotional expression by all family members. Education and psychosocial support by nurses and other health care team lead to coping positively with this chronic illness and its related consequences (Hinds, 2010). The aim of this study was to study the effect of nursing intervention on stressors and coping patterns of children suffering from cancer and their accompanying mothers through assessment of their stressors and coping patterns, design and implement nursing intervention and study the effect of the implemented nursing intervention on the studied subjects' stressors and coping patterns. This study was conducted at both Inpatient Medical Department and Outpatient Oncology Clinics of Pediatrics Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University Hospitals. The studied subjects composed of one hundred and fifty children