Psychological interventions helping pediatric oncology patients cope with medical procedures: a nurse-centered approach.

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

This study explored whether psychological interventions are currently used by pediatric oncology nurses to help children cope with their treatment and, if so, which interventions were considered by oncology nurses to be the most effective.

METHODS AND SAMPLE

A web-based survey was developed to assess pediatric oncology nurses' impressions of psychological care for pediatric patients during their medical treatment. A sample of 88 pediatric oncologic nurses from twelve leading pediatric oncology departments in the US participated in the survey. The closed questions were analyzed through quantitative methods with statistics. The open questions were examined through qualitative methods with report narratives and discourse analysis.

KEY RESULTS

Pediatric oncology nurses identified three psychological interventions to reduce suffering: educating children by explaining the procedure; providing emotional support to children by listening, answering children's worries, or holding their hands; and distracting children through passive and active forms. The survey further showed that nurses spent on average 3 h per day providing emotional support, would be willing to be trained in additional interventions (93%), and could devote at least 10 min per treatment to provide support (77%).

CONCLUSIONS

This work demonstrates the central role nurses play as emotional support caregivers. Since nurses would be willing to provide emotional support during treatments, training may be an approach to incorporate the use of psychological interventions.