Impact of effective nursing interventions to the fatigue syndrome in children who receive chemotherapy

PubMed ID: 18600119This experimental, randomized controlled study was conducted for children with cancer who are 7 to 12 years of age and receiving chemotherapy treatment to detect the impact of appropriate nursing interventions on decreasing the fatigue syndrome. The research sample is composed of a total of 60 children with cancer, with 30 children being included in the experimental group and 30 children included in the control group with their mothers. In the experimental group, after the 7th to 10th day of the chemotherapy treatment, throughout a week, the researcher conducted the effective nursing interventions every day for 45 to 60 minutes. In the control group, routine nursing interventions were carried out. The experimental and control group children's mean scores for the Fatigue Scale-Child and those of mothers for Fatigue Scale-Parent were compared. A statistically significant difference was found between the Fatigue Scale-Child and Fatigue Scale-Parent mean scores of the experimental and the control group children (P < .00). These results suggest that fatigue of children with cancer can be reduced by implementing appropriate nursing interventions. Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins