Children's Self-report and Caregivers' Perception of Chemotherapy Symptoms in Children Receiving Chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Background: Chemotherapy is the common cancer treatment in childhood. During chemotherapy, symptoms may vary in severity each day. This study aimed to compare children's self-reports and caregivers' perceptions of symptoms of children with cancer on their first day and the third day of chemotherapy. Methods: This study was a comparative descriptive study. The convenience sampling method was used to recruit 51 children with cancer, aged 8e15 years old, who received chemotherapy at a super-tertiary hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, and their caregivers. Data were collected using the Thai version of the Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool (SSPedi) for children and caregivers. The ManneWhitney U test and Cohen's kappa statistic was used for data analysis. Results: The results of the study showed that on the first day of chemotherapy in children and caregivers, there was a statistically significant difference in only 1 of the 15 symptoms assessed (p < 0.05), namely “changes in how your body or face look” (p ¼ 0.012). On the third day of chemotherapy, there were statistically significant differences in 3 symptoms (p < 0.05), including “feeling tired” (p ¼ 0.016), “feeling more or less hungry” (p ¼ 0.039), and “change in taste” (p ¼ 0.049). The highest level of agreement between children and caregivers was “substantial agreement” (r ¼ 0.700), and the lowest was “slight agreement” (r ¼ 0.172). Conclusion: Healthcare providers may encourage caregivers to participate in assessing their children's symptoms. They can also establish guidelines to increase caregivers' participation in assessing symptoms of children during the chemotherapy period.