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Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer

Background: Cancer diseases in children and adolescents are considered to be one of the most serious health problems in the world. It is estimated that about 151,435 cases are diagnosed in children annually. Children with cancer experience many comorbid symptoms related to diagnosis and treatment th...

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Autores principales: Lewandowska, Anna, Zych, Barbara, Papp, Katalin, Zrubcová, Dana, Kadučáková, Helena, Šupínová, Mária, Apay, Serap Ejder, Nagórska, Małgorzata
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700549/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34943367
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8121173
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author Lewandowska, Anna
Zych, Barbara
Papp, Katalin
Zrubcová, Dana
Kadučáková, Helena
Šupínová, Mária
Apay, Serap Ejder
Nagórska, Małgorzata
author_facet Lewandowska, Anna
Zych, Barbara
Papp, Katalin
Zrubcová, Dana
Kadučáková, Helena
Šupínová, Mária
Apay, Serap Ejder
Nagórska, Małgorzata
author_sort Lewandowska, Anna
collection PubMed
description Background: Cancer diseases in children and adolescents are considered to be one of the most serious health problems in the world. It is estimated that about 151,435 cases are diagnosed in children annually. Children with cancer experience many comorbid symptoms related to diagnosis and treatment that can profoundly affect their lives. They experience physical and emotional suffering, which affects their well-being and physical fitness, influencing the prognosis and deteriorating their physical, mental and social functioning. Given the limited data, an attempt was made to assess the problems of the biopsychosocial sphere of need and stressors among children and adolescents treated for cancer. Accurate symptom assessment is essential to ensure high-quality care and effective treatment. Patients and Methods: The qualitative study was conducted in pediatric oncology of hospitals in Poland. Children diagnosed with cancer were invited to participate in the study to assess their problems, stressors and needs. Results: The study included 520 people, where female sex constituted 48% and male 52%. The mean age of the children is 13.2 SD = 2.5. Negative experiences related to the disease are experienced by 82% of children. Among the surveyed children, the most experienced were anxiety (61%). The conducted research shows that as many as 69% of all respondents experienced states that indicate severe depression. The most common somatic problems reported by children were pain (58%). The most dominant areas of life that had a negative impact was body image (85%). Conclusions: Children and adolescents diagnosed with neoplastic disease experience many problems and stressors in every sphere of life, which undoubtedly affects a high level of unmet needs. The main category of needs concerning the challenges faced by children with cancer was psychological and care problems. In the youth group, the needs were mainly related to education and social support.
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spelling pubmed-87005492021-12-24 Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer Lewandowska, Anna Zych, Barbara Papp, Katalin Zrubcová, Dana Kadučáková, Helena Šupínová, Mária Apay, Serap Ejder Nagórska, Małgorzata Children (Basel) Article Background: Cancer diseases in children and adolescents are considered to be one of the most serious health problems in the world. It is estimated that about 151,435 cases are diagnosed in children annually. Children with cancer experience many comorbid symptoms related to diagnosis and treatment that can profoundly affect their lives. They experience physical and emotional suffering, which affects their well-being and physical fitness, influencing the prognosis and deteriorating their physical, mental and social functioning. Given the limited data, an attempt was made to assess the problems of the biopsychosocial sphere of need and stressors among children and adolescents treated for cancer. Accurate symptom assessment is essential to ensure high-quality care and effective treatment. Patients and Methods: The qualitative study was conducted in pediatric oncology of hospitals in Poland. Children diagnosed with cancer were invited to participate in the study to assess their problems, stressors and needs. Results: The study included 520 people, where female sex constituted 48% and male 52%. The mean age of the children is 13.2 SD = 2.5. Negative experiences related to the disease are experienced by 82% of children. Among the surveyed children, the most experienced were anxiety (61%). The conducted research shows that as many as 69% of all respondents experienced states that indicate severe depression. The most common somatic problems reported by children were pain (58%). The most dominant areas of life that had a negative impact was body image (85%). Conclusions: Children and adolescents diagnosed with neoplastic disease experience many problems and stressors in every sphere of life, which undoubtedly affects a high level of unmet needs. The main category of needs concerning the challenges faced by children with cancer was psychological and care problems. In the youth group, the needs were mainly related to education and social support. MDPI 2021-12-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8700549/ /pubmed/34943367 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8121173 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Lewandowska, Anna
Zych, Barbara
Papp, Katalin
Zrubcová, Dana
Kadučáková, Helena
Šupínová, Mária
Apay, Serap Ejder
Nagórska, Małgorzata
Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer
title Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer
title_full Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer
title_fullStr Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer
title_full_unstemmed Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer
title_short Problems, Stressors and Needs of Children and Adolescents with Cancer
title_sort problems, stressors and needs of children and adolescents with cancer
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8700549/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34943367
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children8121173
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