Hospital-based home care for children with cancer: a qualitative exploration of family members' experiences in Denmark

Hospital-based home care for children with cancer: a qualitative exploration of family members' experiences in Denmark The study aims to describe the experiences of a hospital-based home care programme in the families of children with cancer. Fourteen parents, representing 10 families, were interviewed about their experiences of a hospital-based home care programme during a 4-month period in 2009 at a university hospital in Denmark. Five children participated in all or part of the interview. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that hospital-based home care enabled the families to remain intact throughout the course of treatment, as it decreased the strain on the family and the ill child, maintained normality and an ordinary everyday life and fulfilled the need for safety and security. According to family members of children with cancer, hospital-based home care support enhanced their quality of life during the child's cancer trajectory. Our study highlights the importance of providing hospital-based home care with consideration for the family members' need for the sense of security achieved by home care by experienced paediatric oncology nurses and regular contact with the doctor. In future studies, interviews with children and siblings could be an important source of information for planning and delivering care suited to the families' perceived needs

Hospital-based home care for children with cancer

Hospital-based home care (HBHC) is widely applied in Pediatric Oncology. We reviewed the potential effect of HBHC on children's physical health and risk of adverse events, parental and child satisfaction, quality of life of children and their parents, and costs. A search of PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE led to identification of five studies that met the inclusion criteria. All sample sizes were small, and both the interventions and the outcome measures were diverse. Although burdened by these limitations, the studies indicate that HBHC is feasible and carries no crucial negative effects for children with cancer. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2011; 57: 369-377. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc