INDEPENDENCE IN ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING IN CHILDHOOD CANCER

Objective: This study aimed to examine the level of independence in activities of daily living in childhood cancer. Methods: The study included 50 children (28 boys and 22 girls) with the mean age of 9.18 ± 2.65 (min:7... [ view full abstract ]

Objective: This study aimed to examine the level of independence in activities of daily living in childhood cancer.

Methods: The study included 50 children (28 boys and 22 girls) with the mean age of 9.18 ± 2.65 (min:7 months -max:12 years) years who are diagnosed as cancer and staying at hospital for chemotherapy. Demographic characteristic of children were recorded. The independence of the children was stated with Wee Functional Independence Measure for children (WeeFIM). WeeFIM consists of 6 domains: self-care (includes 5 items), sphincter control (2 items), transfers (3 items), locomotion (3 items), communication (2 items), and social cognition (3 items). The results were analysed statistically.

Results: The diagnosis of children were lymphomas neoplasms (n=22), central nervous system neoplasms (n=14), soft tissue sarcomas (n=6) and malignant bone tumors (n=8) respectively. The self- care scores of WeeFIM was 23.46± 7.00, sphincter control was 11.92± 1.93, transfers was 16.00± 4.95, locomotion was 14.44± 4.60, commination was 10.84± 3.32, social cognition was 14.06 ± 5.83.Total scores of WeeFIM was 90.88 ± 22.29.

Conclusion: Cancer is a chronic disease which affects daily life activity negatively. WeeFIM assesses the activities of daily living, it rather shows the performance in the parameters related to the personal and social skills. For this reason, evaluation of motor performance in childhood cancer should give information about the activities of daily living.