Living with the Late Effects of Childhood Cancer Treatment: A Descriptive Qualitative Study.

Hye Chong Hong,Ari Min,Sungkyoung Choi

doi:10.3390/ijerph18168392

Abstract

Long-term childhood cancer survivors (CCS) may experience physical, social, and emotional struggles posttreatment. Our aim was to explore the experiences of CCS dealing with the late effects of cancer treatment from their own perspectives. This study employed a qualitative descriptive design to explore and describe the experience of dealing with late effects among CCS. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 CCS in Korea. Participants were selected by purposive and snowball sampling and individually interviewed during the period from September to November 2020. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze data and identify themes. Two main themes and seven subthemes emerged. The two main themes were: “Things I encountered while crossing a bridge” and “Living as a survivor”. The participants reported both positive and negative experiences with dealing with the late effects of cancer treatment. The main themes indicated that late effects exert significant impacts on the lives of CCS in both positive and negative ways. Healthcare providers and researchers should pay attention to early intervention needs of CCS and their support systems to strengthen their positive experiences in dealing with late effects during their survivorships.

Highlights

With the advanced and aggressive treatments used in childhood cancer, the 5-year survival rate for childhood cancer is over 80% in the United States and European countries [1,2].the current 5-year survival rate for childhood cancer in Korea is about 84%, which is a dramatic increase from 56% in 1995 [3,4]
One negative experience found both in previous research and this study is the lack of explanation about the late effects of cancer treatment
The main themes found in our study indicated that late effects exert significant impacts on the lives of cancer survivors (CCS) in both positive and negative ways

Summary

Introduction

With the advanced and aggressive treatments used in childhood cancer, the 5-year survival rate for childhood cancer is over 80% in the United States and European countries [1,2].the current 5-year survival rate for childhood cancer in Korea is about 84%, which is a dramatic increase from 56% in 1995 [3,4]. Late effects are health problems or complications of cancer treatments that affect survivors physically and psychologically; these effects can develop months or years after the completion of cancer therapy [7]. Such late effects include cardiovascular, metabolic, skeletal, reproductive, and neurocognitive symptoms and disorders [6,8,9]. CCS must be counseled and continuously screened for long-term late effects of their specific therapies; many tend to be unaware of the potential late effects of cancer treatment during childhood, which could result in uncertainties such as risk of relapse and anxieties about life and death [10,11,12]

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion