Effect of Empowering Caregivers of Children with Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy on Their Adherence to Preventive Health Recommendations for Oral Ulcer

Inflammation of the oral mucosa is a common and debilitating complication of chemotherapy that is preventable and manageable following health advices. Empowering the primary caregiver can be helpful in management of this condition. Aim: To determine the effect of empowering the caregivers on preventing inflammation of oral mucosa in children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: This non-randomized clinical trial was conducted in 60 children's caregivers aged between 3 and 18 years old undergoing chemotherapy in Sheikh Hospital of Mashhad in two groups of intervention and control. In the intervention group, training was based on clinical guide in 5 sessions and according to Gibson empowerment model in 4 steps. Data were gathered based on questionnaire of side effects of chemotherapy and adherence questionnaire of the prevention and treatment of mouth ulcers in three stages: the first, the sixth and the 12th week of intervention. For data analysis, SPSS version 18 and paired and independent t-tests, Spearman correlation coefficient and the Mann-Whitney tests were used. Results: 61.7% of the patients were men and 38.3 were women. The average ages of the children and caregivers were 5/6±3/2 and 32/1±8/1 years, respectively. The average adherence to prevention recommendations for oral ulcers in the empowerment group increased from 53/6±24/3 to 82/2±11/7 (p