Impact of Counseling on Quality of Life and Treatment Adherence for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemic Children

Abstract

Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is also called acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a cancer that starts from the early version of white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow is higher in boys than in girls, except during infancy, when there is a slight female predominance. Age–specific incidence patterns are characterized by a peak between the ages of 2and 5 years, followed by falling rate during later childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Acute lymphocytic leukemia could be fatal if Children not treated Treatment for childhood with ALL requires that the child passes through three phases which are induction, consolidation and maintenance phase. Each phase require specific time for fulfillment the effect of the drugs. This needs a good relationship between the parent and the health care team. The present study conduct with the aim of the study was to assess the impact of counseling on QOL and treatment adherence for ALL children. Subjects of the study A purposive sample will include (30) children newly diagnosed admitted in one years with ALL in the initial diagnosis period and chemotherapy treatment at the first day of induction phases, age from 6 to18 years and their accompany mother admitted to the previously mention sitting. Data were collected through following tools were: Questionnaire Sheet it consisted of three parts. The first concerned with characteristics of children, it will be including: the child’s age, sex, rank, level of education and residence. The second part: It related to characteristics of the children’s mother as age, sex, rank, residence level of education and type of work. Third part: Assess the children knowledge regarding to ALL and its management i.e. Definition, causes, risk factors, clinical manifestation, diagnosis, complications, care and treatment regimen) pre and post counseling. The second tools concerned with assess QOL of the studied children. The third tools concerned with measure Treatment Adherence of the studied children. A letter of proposal from the dean of the Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University, was presented to Director of Pediatric manger of National Cancer Institute [NCI] belonging to Cairo University Egypt. It was addressed to each director of the previously mentioned settings to obtain their approval to conduct the study. The research approval was obtained from scientific research ethical committee in Faculty of Nursing at Ain Shams University before starting the study informed consent approval was obtained from Children. They assured that the information collected treated confidentially and that it used only for the purpose of the research.