EFFECTIVENESS OF A FAMILY-MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ON FAMILY MANAGEMENT, FAMILY AND CHILD QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH LEUKEMIA

Abstract

Children with leukemia is a serious illness that requiring intensive treatments with negative side effects and long-term consequences for patients and their families. These problems involve children changing as a result of treatment, the child's developmental progress being interrupted, the family's daily routines being altered, and future goals needing to be revised. This repeated measures quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a family-management program (FMP) on family management, family and child quality of life. Participants were the parents of children with ALL who are admitted to receive chemotherapy at a pediatric oncology ward in the Phrapokklao hospital, Chanthaburi province. They were divided into 23 cases each for the experimental and the control groups by using a convenience sampling. Research instruments included the Family-Management Measure (FaMM), the Beach-Center Family Quality-of-Life Scale (BCFQOLS), and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) with their reliability of 0.71, 0.98, and 0.90, respectively. Participants of the intervention participated in three sessions over three weeks and a routine care while those in the control group received only a routine care. Outcome variables were collected three times at baseline (Week 1), post-intervention (Week 3), and follow-up (Week 7). Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, and two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The results revealed that after completion of the intervention, participants in the intervention group had higher family management, and better child quality of life than those in the control group. For within the intervention group, at follow-up (week 7), participants also had higher family management, better family and child quality of life than those at post-intervention (week 3), and baseline (week 1). Therefore, the FMP was effective in improving family management, family quality of life, and child quality of life among parents of children with leukemia. This intervention could be utilized as standard practice by nurses who work with family and children with ALL to enhance family management, improve family quality of life, and improve child quality of life.

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