Quality of life in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: A systematic review

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files
ES_QualityAV2009.pdf(241.56 KB)
Accepted Version
Date
2009-02
Authors
Savage, Eileen
O'Riordan, A.
Hughes, Mary
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Quality of life (QOL) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is now considered an important outcome measure of treatment for this disease. The aim of this paper is to systematically review studies on QOL in children during treatment for ALL with consideration to methodological details and quality of studies, empirical findings on QOL as reported by children and parents, and whether children and parents differ in their reports on QOL. Searches were conducted in biomedical, psychological and behavioural science databases. Six papers met inclusion criteria for review: 4 cross-sectional studies and 2 qualitative studies. There was little consistency in how QOL was measured or qualitatively assessed across studies. The quality of most studies was limited by small sample sizes and cross-sectional designs. Children's reports on QOL were represented in 3 studies and discrepancies were found between children's and parent's accounts of QOL. There is a need for ongoing research on QOL in children with ALL that use longitudinal designs, large sample sizes, and child reports of QOL. There is a need for theoretical development of the concept of QOL through concept analysis, grounded theory research and empirical validation of developing theory of QOL. Theoretical development of the concept of QOL will contribute to greater clarification of what is meant by QOL than currently exists which in turn has the potential to advance the methodology of measuring this concept in children.
Description
Keywords
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia , Child , Quality of life , Systematic review
Citation
SAVAGE, E., O'RIORDAN, A. & HUGHES, M. 2009. Quality of life in children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: A systematic review. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 13, 36-48. doi: 10.1016/j.ejon.2008.09.001
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in European Journal of Oncology Nursing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in European Journal of Oncology Nursing [Volume 13, Issue 1, February 2009, Pages 36–48] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejon.2008.09.001