Quality of Life in Parents of Turkish and Syrian Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant and Oncology Patients

Abstract

Background: The success of the treatment depends on the well‑being of the parents in pediatric cancer patients. In addition, migrants  need to deal with the consequences of war. 

Aim: Our purpose was to compare the HRQoL of parents of Syrian and Turkish children  followed in our bone marrow transplant and oncology units. 

Materials and Methods: One hundred SF 36 questionnaires, fifty from each group were collected between October 2019 and March 2020 in this cross‑sectional study. Demographic characteristics of the patients  (sex, age, cancer type, presence of relapse, duration of follow‑up) and education level of parents were recorded. Analyses were  performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.0. 

Results: Turkish parents reported better results in physical functioning, emotional  well‑being, physical pain, general health, and physical health composite score (P < 0.05). There were more fathers in the Syrian group and  education status was significant between the two groups (P = 0.01, P = 0.001, respectively). There was no correlation between QoL  and education levels in the Turkish group. In Syrian parents, pain score was high in middle school graduates (P = 0.043). In the presence  of relapse, although the physical function score decreased, the physical role function score increased in Turkish parents (P = 0.0035, P =  0.005, respectively). Syrian parents’ emotional role function and energy/fatigue score were both increased when children had relapses (P  = 0.027for both). 

Conclusion: Migration is a complex issue. Turkish parents were better in physical functioning, emotional well‑being, physical pain, general health, and physical health composite score. Screening for parental burden, assisting them to find appropriate  support services is essential in improving the health and QoL of both our patients and their parents.