title: The relationship of illness longevity and relapse with self-perception, cancer stressors, anxiety, and coping strategies in children with cancer.
abstract: A descriptive, correlational design was used to investigate the relationship of the longevity of the cancer experience and the presence of a relapse to the child's self-perception, cancer stressors, anxiety, and use of coping strategies. The 44 children included in this study were 6 1/2 to 13 1/2 years of age. Fifteen of the children had experienced a relapse of the disease either on or off therapy. The longevity of the cancer treatment and the presence of a relapse were negatively associated with the child's self-perception. Trait anxiety was positively associated with duration of the cancer experience and with the presence of a relapse. Longevity of the cancer experience and the presence of a relapse may be factors that signal the need for interventions designed to enhance the child's self-perception throughout treatment. Because children in this study who reported lower self-perception and higher trait anxiety levels also reported experiencing more cancer stressors, nursing efforts to develop innovative strategies designed to enhance patients' feelings of self-worth and decrease their anxiety may prove to be important contributions to the care of children receiving treatment for cancer.
authors.affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hockenberry-Eaton
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dilorio
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kemp
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012008:Recurrence; D012649:Self Concept; D013997:Time Factors