Cancer nursing
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The meaning and role of hope in parents of children with life-threatening illnesses remain relatively unstudied. ⋯ Understanding parental hope may assist healthcare professionals to avoid overloading parents with too much information at once. Healthcare professionals can also ensure that social support from family, community, and the medical center is available for parents and that their physical and emotional needs are being met to ensure that they maintain hope to best care for their child with cancer.
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Survivors of childhood cancer are a growing population in society. These young people have a high risk of developing chronic health problems with a potential strong impact on their lives. How a childhood cancer experience affects survivors in adolescence has been studied to a limited extent; an increased understanding of this young group is needed to improve follow-up care. ⋯ Follow-up care is needed that can identify those young survivors of childhood cancer having trouble with daily life and offer them support to strengthen their resources in managing difficulties in relation to having had cancer.
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Multicenter Study
Measuring vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Vincristine-induced peripheral neuropathy (VIPN) is difficult to quantify in children. ⋯ The TNS-PV may be a useful tool for assessing vincristine toxicity in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
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Cancer in young adults is rare, but the intensity of cancer treatment increases the risk of physical and psychosocial impacts on patients' entire lives. Young adult survivors are underrepresented in research, and knowledge of cancer survivors in this age group is scarce, especially knowledge of transition from cancer treatment to everyday life. ⋯ The results suggest a major shortcoming in both preparation for survivorship, multidisciplinary follow-ups, and knowledge. A shift to a more holistic perspective in survivorship care is suggested.
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Coping with grief after a child's death is a complex and dynamic process. The Two-Track Model of Bereavement, which served as the theoretical framework for this study, examines biopsychosocial reactions to bereavement (track I) and attachment to the deceased (track II). ⋯ Training programs for nurses need to be developed to help nurses be sensitive to maternal loss and grief and to incorporate the bereaved mother's relationship with her deceased child into interventions.