| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立台北護理學院 === 護理研究所 === 98 === The mortality rate of childhood cancer is the number two of the top ten leading causes of death for children. Neuroblastoma is the most common and rapid growing malignant tumor occurring among children under the age of one. Seventy percents of children showed metastasis to other organs when neuroblastoma was diagnosed. The majority studies of childhood cancer have focused on cancer treatment related pain, less in-depth discussion on the pain caused by malignant tumor per se. Furthermore, the assessment of pain to children mainly relies on the caregivers’ depiction of children’s responses. The caregivers’ value and judgment decide how children’s pain be reliened. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the caregivers’ lived experiences in managing pain for the children with neuroblastoma.
A descriptive qualitative research design with in-depth interviews was conducted in this study. A semi-structure interview guide was used for data collection, the interviews were audio-typed, the average interview time was 50 to 80 minutes and the interview data were analyzed using content analysis method.
A total of 12 caregivers to children with neuroblastoma were interviewed for the study, age ranged from 32 to 57 and the average age was 39 years old. Eleven of them were the mothers and only one caregiver was the grandmother. Two major themes emerged from the study, including pain experiences and coping with pain. Pain experience included three sub-themes: pain assessment may rely on language expression and behavior observation, pain caused by tumor metastasis is easily misdiagnosed and cancer pain revealed time-phases. Coping with pain included four sub-themes: using pharmacology and non-pharmacology methods to relieve pain, confronting the pain properly, searching for mental and emotional support and adjusting family lifestyles.
The study results demonstrate how children with neuroblastoma express the pain and how it affects the lifestyle and mental stress of the family and the caregivers. This will help nurses to understand the neuroblastoma pain experience and how caregivers cope with the pain and their attitude. The study will also help nurses to handle pain relief more effectively and provide mental support to the caregivers at the right time.
|
|---|
