Investigation of factors affecting quality of life and sleep quality in children with cancer

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the quality of sleep and quality of life of children aged 4-18 years who were diagnosed with cancer in Tülay Aktaş Oncology Hospital, Ege University Medical Faculty. Materials and Methods: The scales used in the acquisition of data in accordance with the research and literatüre to be performed as a data collection tool are General Child Quality of Life Scale (KINDL), KINDL Cancer Quality of Life Module for Children and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. This study which was planned as descriptive and analytical type, was performed between August 2018 and October 2018 at Ege University Medical Faculty Tülay Aktaş Oncology Hospital. Between these dates, the data collected from 100 children aged between 4-18 years were analyzed by 20.0. Results: The gender of the participants included in the study were 49% female and 51% male. The participants of the study 30% were from primary school, 33% were from secondary school, 25% were from high school and 12% were from private school. The mean age of the participants was 11,58 ± 4,55, the mean number of siblings was 2,34 ± 1,23, and the age of onset of cancer was 8,84 ± 4,71. The mean total score of the body favors was calculated as 13,71 ± 3,48. The average body size of life quality scale is 9,12 ± 3,39 and the mean body weight is 6,93 ± 2,06. The subjective sleep quality of the participants' sleep quality scale sub-dimensions was 1,91 ± 0,66. Conclusions: As the KINDL cancer quality of life score and Pittsburgh sleep quality score increase in children with cancer, cancer quality of life and sleep quality of children decrease. As the overall quality of life score of KINDL increases in children with cancer; while the quality of life of children increases, sleep quality decreases.