The number of cancer patients in children increases every year. Eighty percent of cancer case occurs in developing countries. The most common type of cancer in children is leukemia (35.5 percent).
Cancer in children brings stress to parents, especially related to the severity of the disease and the procedure of action given to the child while in the hospital.
Based on data from the Indonesian Childhood Cancer Foundation, the number of cancer patients in children in Indonesia reaches 11,000 per year. Cancer in children can be an extraordinary stressor for parents.
The response shown by parents knowing children suffering from leukemia can be in the form of rejection, anxiety, stress, and depression. Parents with leukemic children can experience mild to severe stress, especially in mothers as primary caregivers.
Stress can increase if the knowledge of parents about the disease and treatment of leukemic children is low. The involvement of parents in childcare can be improved through an empowerment model. The necessary knowledge includes nutritional needs, prevention of infection, and prevention of bleeding in children with cancer.
Nurses have a role as facilitators and educators for clients, the children, and families of children suffering from leukemia. The family principle, as the main center of nursing care, must be held by childcare. The two main elements in the family-centered care principle are empowering and enabling.
FACE Module stands for Family Centered Empowerment. The FACE module is compiled as a useful medium to help nurses and health workers in providing education to parents with children suffering from leukemia. The FACE module aims to empower parents in childcare through increasing knowledge about childcare for the long term to increase the independence of parents. The FACE module was compiled by Doctor Yuni Sufyanti Arief, S.Kp., MKes as a result of her dissertation.
Method and Results
The study was conducted in a particular inpatient room for pediatric hematology and oncology at Dr. Soetomo Hospital Surabaya. The research respondents were parents, especially mothers of children suffering from leukemia. Respondents were divided into two groups, the group that received the FACE module intervention and respondents who were not given the FACE module as the control group.
Stress levels were measured twice, before and after the intervention. The instrument used to measure the stress level of parents using the DASS-21 (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) questionnaire, which contains 21 questions that describe the feelings related to the parents’ emotions.
Parents are taught about how to care for children in terms of meeting nutritional needs, preventing infection, and preventing bleeding, which are the main signs that often occur in leukemic children for two weeks. The FACE module intervention is given twice with 30 minutes duration for each meeting.
After two weeks of intervention using the FACE module, the stress level of parents who have children diagnosed with leukemia has decreased. The results of the statistical test showed that there were differences in stress levels between the groups that received the intervention and the control group. There is a significant influence on the FACE module intervention on stress levels of parents who have children diagnosed with leukemia.
The right and clear information are needed by parents who have children diagnosed with leukemia because leukemia requires long-term care. Correct understanding of childcare can help parents to overcome one of the problems faced, the care and prevention of infection in leukemia children so that stress levels of parents can decrease.
Parental education can also be related to the parents’ level of stress as it is related to their level of understanding in receiving information. Parents who have good understanding can increase the level of cooperation with the procedures and treatment given to children with leukemia.
The results of this study bring benefits, especially for nursing science, in providing nursing care for children with cancer. Increasing cognitive empowerment of parents is one of the essential aspects to increase the level of parents’ cooperation and compliance in caring for children independently both at the hospital and at home.
Author: Ilya Krisnana, S.Kep.,Ns.,MKep
Author: Ilya Krisnana, S.Kep., Ns., MKep
https://periodika.osu.cz/ojs/index.php/cejnm/issue/view/16
Krisnana, Ilya et al. 2019. “Reducing Acute Stress Disorders in Mothers of Leukemic Children By Means of The Family Centered Empowerment Module ( FACE ).” Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery 10(2): 1035–40.
