Developmentally appropriate social and mental health support could improve quality of life for children receiving cancer treatment

摘要

As the overall long-term survival rate for children's cancer increases, recognition of the wide-ranging (physical, psychological, emotional and social) impacts on the quality of life for these children and young people is important.2 3 The systematic review undertaken by Jibb et at focuses on the experiences of children receiving cancer treatment with the aim of improving their quality of life through informing practice. A systematic review of four databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO) focusing on articles published 2000-2016 was conducted. The search strategy was reported to be wide ranging: the search terms were not documented but available on request from the authors. Identified studies used either qualitative or mixed methods, were written in English and reported on the experiences of children and young people (under the age of 18 years) during cancer treatment. The authors appraised and synthesised articles exploring the experiences of children receiving treatment for cancer. Two authors independently screened for inclusion with any disagreements resolved with a third person. Reporting was independently assessed by two authors using an adapted version of the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist. Data from selected papers were extracted and tabulated and NVivo was used to facilitate thematic analysis. Two researchers initially independently assigned codes and then agreed consensus (involving a third person where discrepancies arose). Identified themes were discussed collectively.