Parental decision making in pediatric cancer end-of-life care: Using focus group methodology as a prephase to seek participant design input

Title

Parental decision making in pediatric cancer end-of-life care: Using focus group methodology as a prephase to seek participant design input

Creator

Tomlinson D; Capra M; Gammon J; Volpe J; Barrera M; Hinds PS; Bouffet E; Geenberg ML; Baruchel S; Llewellyn-Thomas HA; Sung L

Publisher

European Journal Of Oncology Nursing

Date

2006

Subject

Child; Humans; Terminal Care; Attitude to Health; Questionnaires; Professional-Family Relations; Patient-Centered Care; Qualitative Research; Nurse's Role; Pediatric Nursing; Program Development; Needs Assessment; Patient Selection; Helping Behavior; Adaptation; Psychological; PedPal Lit; decision making; Parents/psychology; Neoplasms; social support; Quality of Life/psychology; Focus Groups/methods; Focus Groups/utilization; Morale; Nursing Methodology; Oncologic Nursing

Description

The ultimate aim of our research program is to provide strategies that facilitate parental decision-making for parents of children with cancer receiving end-of-life care. As a first step to develop this program, we needed insight into parents' reactions and opinions about the research methods planned for a larger study. In particular, we needed their opinions about the general experience of making the decision between palliative cytotoxic chemotherapy and supportive care alone and the factors that parents regard as important when making this decision. In addition, we wished to know whether the methodology proposed for the future study was easy to understand and whether it might cause unnecessary emotional trauma. Finally, we asked their opinions regarding the appropriate target sample of parents to include in the future study. Qualitative data about these issues were collected using focus group methodology involving seven participants. The comments made during the focus group discussions were content-analyzed for common themes. The results from the focus group discussion led to particular modifications in the proposed design and interview strategies planned for the future larger study. We found it was extremely beneficial to include a focus group pre-phase in a study that will interview parents in a high sensitivity area.
2006

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Type

Journal Article

Citation List Month

Backlog

Citation

Tomlinson D; Capra M; Gammon J; Volpe J; Barrera M; Hinds PS; Bouffet E; Geenberg ML; Baruchel S; Llewellyn-Thomas HA; Sung L, “Parental decision making in pediatric cancer end-of-life care: Using focus group methodology as a prephase to seek participant design input,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed October 15, 2024, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/13731.