Impact of Caring for Pediatric Oncology Patients on Health Professionals’ Life: A Qualitative Study
Received Date : 16 Aug 2021
Accepted Date : 11 Oct 2021
Available Online : 27 Oct 2021
Remziye SEMERCİa, Melahat AKGÜN KOSTAKa, Tuba ERENb
aDepartment of Child Health and Disease Nursing, Trakya University Faculty of Health Sciences, Edirne, TURKEY
bDepartment of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Trakya University Hospital, Edirne, TURKEY
Doi: 10.37047/jos.2021-85783 - Article's Language: EN
J Oncol Sci. 2021;7(3):139-49
ABSTRACT
Objective: As cancer is a leading cause of death for children globally, getting treatment at a medical center specializing in pediatric
oncology can help pediatric oncology patients get the best possible medical care and treatment. Caring for pediatric oncology patients
is a comprehensive process that synergistically affects all health professionals’ quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine the
positive and negative impact of caring for pediatric oncology patients on health professionals’ life. Material and Methods: A descriptive qualitative
research study was conducted with 19 health professionals from the pediatric oncology clinic of a university hospital in Turkey. Data
were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed with thematic analysis. Results: In the study, three themes and nine
sub-themes were created for the positive impact and negative impact of caring for pediatric oncology patients on health professionals’ life.
For positive impact themes were the development of social relation, strengthening of spirituality, and psychological empowerment; for negative
impact themes were changes in attitude and feelings, changes in thoughts about the future, emergence of fears. Conclusion: This study
revealed that caring for pediatric oncology patients had a positive impact as well as a negative impact on health professionals’ life. Our results
revealed that hospital management should be aware of both the positive and negative effects of caring for pediatric oncology patients on
healthcare professionals’ lives while it becomes extremely important to support and strengthen health professionals to reduce the negative impact
for robust care strategies.
Keywords: Health professionals; pediatric oncology patients; qualitative research; care