Information Needs Assessment among Parents of Children with Cancer

Motlagh, Mohammad Esmail; Mirzaei-Alavijeh, Mehdi; Hosseini, Seyyed Nasrollah

doi:10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.6.1865

Information Needs Assessment among Parents of Children with Cancer

Document Type : Research Articles

Authors

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Faculty Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.

² Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.

³ Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran.

10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.6.1865

Abstract

Background: Parents of children with leukemia should be receiving an extensive amount of information about the
care of their child; the aim of this study was to determine the parents’ information needs of children with leukemia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to describe medical, physical, mental and lifestyle information
needs among parents of children with leukemia. 209 parents of children diagnosed with leukemia in the west of Iran,
during winter 2018, voluntarily participated in individual interviews. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 using
t-test, One-way ANOVA and bivariate correlations statistical tests at 95% significant level. Results: The mean age of
participants was 39.45 years [95% CI: 38.35, 40.55], ranged from 27 to 58 years. Participants achieved 55.6% score
of information needs. There was a significant relationship between higher education level (P< 0.001), better economic
status (P=0.008) and more family size member (P=0.003) with information needs. Conclusion: Findings suggest that
parents of children with leukemia need the information to learn how to take care of their childhood and could be useful
for guiding implementers to planning and implement effective programs to promotion information of parents towards
children with cancer.

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