The Best and the Worst Things About the Hospital for Children with Cancer: A Qualitative, Interview-Based Study in a Spanish Hospital

Abstract

The comprehensive psychosocial assessment of children with cancer requires listening to them and understanding their point of view. The objective of this work was to know what the participating children with cancer thought about the hospital, which they considered to be the best and worst aspects of their experience. We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 27 children with cancer. The interviewer asked the participating children what they considered to be the best thing about the hospital and what they considered to be the worst. These conversations with them were recorded and transcribed, and a thematic analysis of these transcripts was conducted. Among the aspects of the hospital that the children rated most highly was the treatment they received from the health care staff. Among what the children considered the worst aspect of their experience was pain, particularly pain caused by medical procedures such as injections. The obtained results lead us to conclude that children have a complex view of the hospital and are capable of a detailed analysis that must be taken into account.