The effect of family-centered empowerment model on quality of life of school–aged children with thalassemia major

BACKGROUND: Chronic nature of thalassemia causes changes in different aspects of life in patients, including their quality of life. Because of the important role of family in caring for children with thalassemia, this study was done to evaluate the effect of family-centered empowerment model on quality of life of the children aged 6-12 years with thalassemia in Kerman Thalassemia Center. METHODS: The present experimental study was carried out on 86 thalassemic children aged 6-12 years who were randomly divided into case and control groups. Data collection tools consisted of demographic and general quality of life questionnaires in children that included physical, emotional and social aspects in addition to school functions. The questionnaires were used after determination of content validity and reliability by internal correlation method. This model was performed in test group according to four steps (threat perception, problem solving, educational participation and evaluation). Quality of life was measured 1.5 months after the intervention. RESULTS: The results showed that the average quality of life of thalassemic children before the intervention was 26.23 in test group and 27.62 in the control group and they were not significantly different (p > 0.05). However after performing the model, the average quality of life in the test group reached 35.19 while it was 28.02 in control group and the observed difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the impact of this model on quality of life in thalassemic children, it is recommended that evaluating the effectiveness of this model should be considered in further studies of other ages and other chronic diseases.