Supervisors info:
Ευαγγελία Χαρμανδάρη , Καθηγήτρια , Ιατρική Σχολή , ΕΚΠΑ
Ευαγγέλου Ελένη , Καθηγήτρια , Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής , Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Αττικής
Κουτελέκος Ιωάννης , Επίκουρος Καθηγητής , Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής , Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Αττικής
Summary:
INTRODUCTION Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains one of the most important treatments for many malignant and non-malignant hematological diseases. The psychological state of the patient plays an important role in the successful outcome of the transplant, especially when it comes to a child, adolescent or young adult. Factors that affect the health of patients are the disease, the deterioration of the quality of life, the frequent hospitalizations and the refutation of expectations.
AIM OF THE STUDY The aim of the research study was to investigate the expectations of children, adolescents and young adults who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
MATERIAL-METHODS The sample of the study consisted of 100 children, adolescents and young adults who had neoplastic disease and who now come for follow-up after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the "Pediatric Oncology Unit Marianna V. Vardinogianni - Elpida". The data collection took place in the spring period 2019 to 2020 after the approval of the Hospital using the expectation questionnaire, together with a special questionnaire concerning health information, transplant procedures, complications, satisfaction, mental health, information on future consequences after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, as well as the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents and young adults. Factor analysis, t-test, Mann-Whitney, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyze the results using the statistical program SPSS 25.0.
RESULTS The sample consisted of 55 boys (55%) and 45 girls (45%) most of whom were aged 7-12 (61%) years and with Greek origin in the majority of them (88.8%). In terms of clinical features, the majority of the sample had hematologic malignancy (73%). Prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, most children, adolescents and young adults received treatment (85.3%), while the age of transplantation was up to 10 years (63.9%) with a short waiting period for transplantation of up to 6 months (73.9%) mainly from relative donors (47%). The results of the analysis of the principal component analysis of the expectations showed a total internal relevance factor of Cronbach's alpha = 0.82, while in the other questionnaire Cronbach's alpha = 0.73. The statistically significant difference was observed in the family perspective and more specifically, the patients who had received treatment have higher expectations for starting a family (p = 0.005), while another statistically significant difference was found in health information and discharge and more specifically, patients who had received a transplant from a relative donor had better information (p = 0.037).
CONCLUSIONS Investigating the expectations of children, adolescents, and young adults who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplants could be used to assess their current psychosocial status, and to improve the quality of their provided inpatient health care.
Keywords:
Transplant, Expectations, Factors, Research, Psychosocia
