Experiences of families with children and adolescents after completing a cancer treatment: support for the nursing care

Abstract

The survival of children and adolescents with cancer has increased in recent years. Researchers and professionals in the health area have prioritized studies on the delayed effects of the treatment and quality of life of the survivors. This study aims to understand how parents and other family members of children and adolescents with cancer, experience the completion of the treatment. This descriptive and exploratory study adopted a qualitative methodological approach. A total of ten families whose children had completed the cancer treatment and were in follow-up in a hospital-school were selected for the study. The data were organized in two thematic axes: the memory % what was experienced and the present % what is being experienced. The study evidenced the participants' vitality to survive the treatment and fragility to live after it. The results allowed identifying aspects that need intervention, aiming at the improvement of quality of life of children, adolescents and the whole family after the end of the treatment.