Dataset Information

Parents' experiences of handling oral anticancer drugs at home: 'It all falls on me …'.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of parents handling oral anticancer drugs in a home setting.

Methods

Parents of children with cancer were recruited from a paediatric oncology ward in Sweden to participate in an interview. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to qualitative content analysis.

Results

We found the following categories and subcategories: parents' views on the provided information-lack of, too little or contradictory information, and parents' preferences for information delivery; safety over time; correct drug dose; and drug administration. As time passed, most parents adapted to their child's illness, felt safer and found it easier to take in and process any given information. Parents preferred information in different formats (written, movie clips and orally) and in their mother tongue. Many parents were aware of the importance of giving an accurate dose to their child and described the process of drug administration as overwhelming.

Conclusion

Parents need to be provided with accurate, timely, nonconflicting and repeated information-in different forms and in their mother tongue-on how to handle oral anticancer drugs at home.

SUBMITTER: Akkawi El Edelbi R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10086976 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Parents' experiences of handling oral anticancer drugs at home: 'It all falls on me …'.

Akkawi El Edelbi Ranaa R Eksborg Staffan S Kreicbergs Ulrika U Lövgren Malin M Wallén Klara K Ekman Jennie J Lindemalm Synnöve S

Journal of evaluation in clinical practice 20220804 1

<h4>Aim</h4>The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of parents handling oral anticancer drugs in a home setting.<h4>Methods</h4>Parents of children with cancer were recruited from a paediatric oncology ward in Sweden to participate in an interview. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to qualitative content analysis.<h4>Results</h4>We found the following categories and subcategories: parents' views on the provided information-lack of, too little or contradictory i ...[more]

PMID: 35927976

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Project description:BackgroundManagement of children with functional abdominal pain (FAP) or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is difficult in primary care. When education and reassurance do not alleviate symptoms, primary care physicians lack treatment options for children with FAP or IBS. Home-based guided hypnotherapy is a promising treatment because of its accessibility. To address feasibility, it is of utmost importance to take experiences from children and their parents into account.ObjectiveWe aimed to explore children's and their parents' experiences with home-based guided hypnotherapy for children with FAP or IBS.MethodsThis qualitative study used open-ended questions from a questionnaire and in-depth semistructured interviews with children and their parents who had a hypnotherapy intervention prescribed. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were collected and analyzed iteratively using thematic content analysis.ResultsA total of 76 children were eligible, and we collected questionnaire data from 56 children. A total of 23 interviews were conducted with 10 children and 15 parents. Six themes emerged from questionnaire data and interviews: impression of the exercises, not for everyone, influence of perceived effect, integrating exercises in daily life, content and practicalities of the website, and customization to personal preferences. Children with FAP or IBS experienced home-based guided hypnotherapy and the exercises differently, ranging from boring to fun. From interviews with the parents, it emerged that hypnotherapy is not suitable for everyone; for example, when children are very young or have a low developmental level, cannot sit still, cannot surrender to the exercises, or are too energetic or stressed, it might be difficult to comply. Experiences were shaped by the influence of a perceived effect and to which extent children were able to integrate exercises in daily life. The content and practicalities of the website also influenced experiences, and hypnotherapy that is adaptable to personal preferences, including by appearance and content, would be highly appreciated.ConclusionsThe children and parents experienced home-based guided hypnotherapy differently, ranging from boring to fun. Hypnotherapy might be difficult or boring for some children. The children enjoyed hypnotherapy when they liked the topic or story, felt positive effects, could easily integrate exercises in daily life, or enjoyed the website in general. The children's experiences and adherence can be further improved by adding short exercises and customizing hypnotherapy to their personal preferences on the website's appearance and content. This could increase effectiveness but must be studied further.

Project description:ImportanceMedications are associated with substantial environmental outcomes, yet frequently end up being unused by patients. Waste-minimizing interventions, such as redispensing of quality-approved oral anticancer drugs remaining unused by patients at home, could reduce the environmental footprint of cancer treatment.ObjectivesTo assess the environmental outcomes of redispensing quality-assured oral anticancer drugs and to explore how redispensing could be environmentally optimized.Design, setting, and participantsIn this quality improvement study, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was performed in the outpatient pharmacy of 4 Dutch hospitals, based on a prospective multicenter trial comprising 1071 patients with a clinical diagnosis of cancer and an active prescription for an oral anticancer drug stored at room temperature from February 1, 2021, to February 1, 2023, with a follow-up of 12 months per patient.InterventionParticipants received prescribed oral anticancer drugs with additional quality-assurance materials (ie, seal bags and time-temperature indicators), so the pharmacy could redispense quality-assured drugs based on authenticity, appearance, remaining shelf life, and/or adequate storage.Main outcomes and measuresThe estimated environmental outcomes avoided due to waste reduction (ie, production and transport and incineration of redispensed oral anticancer drugs) corrected for outcomes of process burdens (ie, quality assurance materials), quantified in 3 outcome measures: human health damage (disability-adjusted life-years), ecosystems damage (species × year), and climate change (kg of carbon dioxide equivalent [CO2-eq]) per patient per year.ResultsA volunteer sample of 1071 patients (median age, 70 years [IQR, 62-75 years]; 622 men [58.1%]) participated in the intervention. Redispensing oral anticancer drugs was initially associated with an environmental burden, mainly because of the high impact of time-temperature indicators. However, when quality-assurance materials were selectively used for temperature-sensitive oral anticancer drugs (ie, maximum storage temperature of 25 °C), redispensing was environmentally beneficial to human health and ecosystems, providing estimated climate benefits of 1.9 kg (95% CI, 1.4-2.6 kg) of CO2-eq per patient per year.Conclusions and relevanceIn this quality improvement study, redispensing unused oral anticancer drugs was found to be a suitable strategy to reduce waste and improve environmental sustainability of cancer treatment after process optimization. Redispensing unused oral anticancer drugs could contribute to sustainability of cancer treatment through reduced costs and environmental outcomes.

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Dataset Information

Parents' experiences of handling oral anticancer drugs at home: 'It all falls on me …'.

Aim

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Parents' experiences of handling oral anticancer drugs at home: 'It all falls on me …'.

Similar Datasets

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