Determination of the knowledge and opinions of classroom teachers on childhood cancers and children with cancer

The aim of this descriptive study was to determine the knowledge and opinions of classroom teachers on childhood cancers and children with cancer. The study sample consisted of 385 classroom teachers working at private and state schools at the central towns of Çankaya, Keçiören, Altındağ, Sincan, Gölbaşı, and Etimesgut in the province of Ankara. A layered sampling method was used for the study and a specific percentage of classroom teachers were reached from every town.The study data were collected between May 25 and 1 July 2010 using the questionnaires designed to determine the teachers? sociodemographic characteristics, the level of information they received regarding childhood cancers, their level of knowledge regarding childhood cancers, and their views regarding childhood cancers and children with cancer.The data obtained from the study were transferred to the SPSS 11.5 package software and analyzed using descriptive statistics, percentage evaluation and the chi-square test.Data analysis showed that most of the teachers were female, married and university graduates. No significant relation was found between the sociodemographic characteristics of the teachers and their knowledge level regarding childhood cancers (p>0.05). We found that 89.0% of the teachers did not have a student diagnosed with cancer and 66.8% had not received any training on childhood cancers. The years of employment, educational level and whether there was a family member who had received a diagnosis of cancer did not influence the level of information received on the subject (p>0.05). The percentage of teachers who believed that the children with cancer could lead a normal life once their treatment was over was 76.6% while more than half (67.9%) felt that they would be uncomfortable if there were a child with cancer in the classroom. The teachers were found to have inadequate knowledge on this subject.Although 87.6% of the teachers stated that they believed a child with cancer required the school, family and hospital to cooperate regarding his/her adaptation to school and success while 68.6% felt that they would be anxious that the child would suffer a problem while in the classroom.The percentage of teachers who would support a separate training program for children with cancer was 48.9% and 63.1% felt that internalization, keeping to oneself and anger was more common in children with cancer.These results indicate the need for repetition of the study on a larger sample, providing supportive, planned and continuous consultancy services to the teachers and ensuring the active participation of nurses to the training program and consultancy process to be provided to teachers.Keywords: cancer, child, school life, nursing, teacher