Stress Management Experience of Caregivers of Thalassemia Children: A Qualitative Research

Children with thalassemia do not have favorable psychological health. Today, the use of different therapeutic regimes for caregivers with thalassemia has increased life expectancy; however, these patients have other various needs and requirements such as constant professional training. The aim of the present study was to explain stress management in caregivers with thalassemia children.
The method applied in this study was phenomenological qualitative research with conventional content analysis. This study was done in 2016-2017 in Shahrekord, Iran. A total of 15 participants, including 10 mothers, 1 grandmother, and 4 fathers participated purposely in this study. There were two sessions of interviews each of which lasted for 30 minutes. The content of interview was recorded and analyzed through conventional content analysis method after documentation.
Following content analysis, three categories were obtained: seeking for hope included two subcategories of seeking for hope and trusting in God, seeking for information included two subcategories of seeking for information from parents and seeking for information from physician and nurse, and seeking for new treatment included two subcategories of seeking for new treatment and seeking for transplant.
This findings of the present study showed that planners and healthcare team can contribute caregivers of thalassemic children in coping with this disease using three adaptation approaches; that is, offering caregivers hope and providing them with proper information about the disease and treatments.