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Expectations of children and adolescents suffering from cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2024

G. Kamperopoulou
Affiliation:
1Greek Health System
A. Zartaloudi*
Affiliation:
2Department of Nursing, University of West Attica
M. Moschovi
Affiliation:
3Department of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
C. Tzoumaka-Bakoula
Affiliation:
3Department of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
E. Dousis
Affiliation:
2Department of Nursing, University of West Attica
E. Evangelou
Affiliation:
2Department of Nursing, University of West Attica
C. Dafogianni
Affiliation:
2Department of Nursing, University of West Attica
M. Polikandrioti
Affiliation:
2Department of Nursing, University of West Attica
I. Koutelekos
Affiliation:
2Department of Nursing, University of West Attica
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Investigation expectations for children and adolescents with cancer is an important issue for their psycho-emotional development as well as their quality of life.

Objectives

To investigate the expectations of children suffering from cancer.

Methods

102 questionnaires were collected from pediatric patients suffering from neoplasia disease (62 boys and 40 girls) with a median age of 13 years, covering the multidimensional expectation questionnaire (MEQ) suitable for children with cancer in a 4-point Likert scale. The MEQ was then evaluated using the SPSS.21 statistical package, which resulted in 13 questions. The questionnaire of expectations highlighted three factors that referred to the “family life expectations”, “daily life / daily routine and career prospects”, and “expectations of networking friendship”, respectively. The statistical results were obtained by multi-line regression analysis, with the Stata 12.1 statistical package, while ethical issues were complied with and licensed.

Results

MEQ reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) for the entire scale was 0.82 and for agents ranged from 0.65-0.84. Overall, pediatric cancer patients delivered a fairly high average score of 3,33 ± 0,42 questions in the expectation’s questionnaire, while the mean scores were 3,29 ± 0,63, 3,51 ± 0, 45 and 3.19 ± 0.54, respectively. From the results of the analysis of multiple regression, it appeared that, as the age increases, the patients with neoplastic disease have overall 76 lower expectations (p = 0.014), while the satisfaction of the doctors-nursing staff in the total expectations is positive (p = 0.018). In the family life expectancy factor, the age of children appears to play a negative role in increasing age (p = 0.019), while positive body image and satisfaction with doctors-nursing staff (p = 0.040, p = 0.006) respectively. It appeared that children aged> 13 years have worse outcomes in expectations of the daily routine and career prospects with (p = 0.037).

Conclusions

The MEQ has proven to be a valid and reliable tool that can provide pediatric staff and researchers with information about the expectations of children and adolescents with cancer that require long-term health care.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
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