Hospital-based Home Care for Children with Cancer from the Parents' Point of View A Qualitative Exploration of Family Members

Background About 2,200 children and adolescents in Germany per year are diagnosed with oncological diseases. Through now, there are almost no offers for home care services for these patients. There is a pilot program offering hospital-based home care for children and adolescents with cancer in Germany. The perspective of the parents will be researched by a qualitative exploring study. Patients: In this interview study parents from children with cancer will be interviewed. Method A qualitative exploring interview study, seeking the subjective perspective from parents on the hospital-based home care for children with cancer. The sample was drawn criterion-guided. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis. For socio-demographic characteristics the participants respond to an online questionnaire. Results Eleven women and three men aged between 30 and 60 years participated in the interviews. The average age of the ill children was 8.43 years. Five parents state that the children's illness did not lead to a reduction in working hours or to the termination of the employment relationship. Hospital-based home care results in subjectively perceived relief in everyday family life, especially in terms of time. Furthermore, a reduction in the psychological perception of stress is described. Discussion/conclusion Due to the study design, the results presented here are to be regarded as indicative. In future studies the presented results should be supplemented by quantitative representative studies.