Investigating cancer treatment in children at home: Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: The administration of treatment at home is a practice that is constantly gaining ground in children with cancer and despite its positive effects, it presents obstacles to its implementation.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate cancer treatment in children at home.
Methods: Systematic literature review from 2006-2023 using keywords: children cancer, treatment, chemotherapy, home, nurse, in international bibliographic databases (Medline, PubMed, Scopus) as well as synonyms and combinations of the terms. The PICOS procedure and the PRISMA methodology were used as evaluative criteria for the inclusion of articles in the study. The inclusion criteria for the articles in the study were: to be research studies, published after 2006, investigating the treatment of cancer in children at home, published in scientific journals in the English language.
Results: Treatment of pediatric cancer at home is associated with improved child, parent, and family quality of life, improved child fatigue, and barriers such as undertreatment and medication errors.
Conclusions: The results do not provide strong evidence but show that cancer treatment at home has a positive effect on the QoL of children, parents, families despite the barriers to its implementation. Education/training can help remove these barriers.