Symptom Frequency of Children with Cancer and Parent Quality of Life in Turkey

Background: This research was planned with the aim of determining the effect of symptom frequency ofchildren with cancer on the quality of life of their parents. Materials and
Methods: In gathering the researchdata, the Child and Parent Information Form, the Symptom Evaluation Form and the Family Version of LifeQuality Scale in Cancer Patients were used. Evaluation was made by using percentage calculations, KruskalWallis test, Bonferroni adjusted t-test and Bonferroni adjusted Mann-Whitney U test. The significance levelwas accepted as 0.005.
Results: Some 37.6% of the participant children were female and 62.4% were male, withan average age of 10.2±4.5. While 41.0% were newly diagnosed, 46.2% were in remission and 12.8% was inrelapse. Highly significant differences were detected according to the symptom frequency with parent physicaland psychological health, social anxiety, and spiritual wellness sub-dimensions, as well as total point averages.
Conclusions: It is thought that following up the symptoms that might develop depending on cancer diagnosisand treatment and implementing nursing initiatives aimed at reducing the symptoms, knowing the importanceof life quality, maintaining measures aimed at life quality and planning initiatives to increase the life qualitywill play a key role in maintaining and developing the health of Turkish paediatric oncology patients and theirparents.