The life of the preschool aged child with cancer in Sweden

• Objectives: The majority of children who receive a cancer diagnosis are in the 1‐to‐6 year age group. Survival rates are high, roughly 75%, but treatment is aggressive and requires long and frequent hospital admissions and causes adverse side effects. Health care focus is shifting from surviving childhood cancer to living with it on a daily basis. The young child's experiences are crucial to providing evidence based care. The aim of this study was to explore the everyday life of preschool aged children as expressed by the child and their parents during the first year post diagnosisMethods: Interviews were conducted with children and their parents connected to a paediatric oncology unit in Southern Sweden. A qualitative content analysis of interview data from three time points, shortly after diagnosis, six months and one year post diagnosis were made.Results: A dramatic change in the young child's everyday life was described, with experiences of feeling like a stranger, under attack and lonely. Experiences over time of gaining control, making a normality of the illness and treatment and feeling lonely were described. This process may be seen as a striving for an everyday life.Conclusions: Nurses have a major role to play in the process of striving the child goes through by giving and updating information, making them participary in their care and assuring access to both parents and peers. Ongoing contact with preschool is vital. Addressing these issues and updating them regularly can assist the young child in their transition to living with cancer. Longitudinal studies with young children are vital in capturing their variety of experiences through the cancer trajectory and necessary to ensure quality care.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Omvårdnad

Nursing

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