The Perceptions of Children and Adolescents with Cancer Regarding Nurses’ Communication Behaviors during Needle Procedures

Encarna Gómez-Gamboa, Olga Rodrigo-Pedrosa, Marta San-Millán, Maria Angeles Saz-Roy, Anna Negre-Loscertales and Montserrat Puig-Llobet
Additional contact information
Encarna Gómez-Gamboa: Advanced Practice Nurse, Sant Joan de Déu Maternity and Chidren’s Hospital, 08950 Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
Olga Rodrigo-Pedrosa: ESIMar (Mar Nursing School), Universitat Pompeu Fabra-Affiliated, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Marta San-Millán: Embriology and Neuroscience Research Group (NEOMA), Medical Sciences Department, Clinical Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Girona, 17071 Girona, Spain
Maria Angeles Saz-Roy: School of Nursing, University of Barcelona, 08907 Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain
Anna Negre-Loscertales: Advanced Practice Nurse, Sant Joan de Déu Maternity and Chidren’s Hospital, 08950 Esplugues de Llobregat, Spain
Montserrat Puig-Llobet: School of Nursing, University of Barcelona, 08907 Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Communicating with children and adolescents with cancer during a needle procedure can prove challenging for healthcare professionals. Objective: Our aim was to explore the perceptions of children and adolescents with cancer regarding communication with nurses during needle procedures. Method: Thus was a qualitative phenomenological study. Data were gathered through seven in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of children and adolescents with cancer. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to identify themes in the participants’ narratives. Results: The analysis revealed three themes describing participants’ experience: (1) nurses need to explain clearly what they are going to do while also allowing children to express their emotions without feeling coerced; (2) nurses need to be honest and approachable and relate to children as active participants in the treatment process; and (3) it is distressing to hear other children who are undergoing a needle procedure cry out in pain. Further application of the constant comparison method yielded a core theme: (4) the pressures faced by oncology nurses lead them to focus on the technical side of procedures at the expense of their young patients’ communication needs. Conclusions: We suggest that hospital managers need to ensure that oncology nurses have sufficient training in communication skills and are confident in their ability to respect and respond to the communication preferences and needs of patients.

Keywords: adolescent; cancer; child; communication barriers; compassion fatigue; qualitative approach; needle procedures; oncology nursing; working environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9372/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9372/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9372-:d:876699

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().