Journal of Holistic Nursing and Midwifery (Apr 2007)
B- thalassemia children and quality of life: Does the present condition justify children’s quality of life?
Abstract
Introduction: Annually, thousands of children are born with B- thalassemia major who receive continuous treatment. The goals of treatments are providing these children quality of life (QOL). Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the QOL of children with B-thalassemia referring to thalassemia centers from their point of view and assessing its effective factors. Methods : In this descriptive – analytic study, the Red QOL scale and a questionnaire in 3 domains of demographic, social and treatment factors were used to interview with 34 Children with B-thalassemia major referring to selected thalassemia wards. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytic statistics and SPSS software. Results: The mean score of children s Qol in physical domain was 11 ± 5.59, social domain 4.85 ± 3.56 , school practice 7.14 ± 3.72 and cummulatively QOL domains was equal to 30.29 ± 13.38. Also such factors such as availability of blood, medicine, personnel s relation, school health nurse, number of hospitalization due to related problems had significant relationship with some of the children s QOL domains. Conclusion: Based on study findings, the QOL condition of children with thalassemia was satisfactory. It appears that the medical services provided to these children in centers are satisfactory and maintains the objectives.
