The Effect of Spiritual Care Based on Sound Heart Pattern on Adjustment of Cancer Children Undergoing Chemotherapy

One of the common ways to treat cancer in children is chemotherapy. Despite its therapeutic benefits, chemotherapy is associated with physical and psychological complications affecting the quality of life in these patients.

The present study was performed with aim to investigate the effect of spiritual care based on sound heart pattern on the adjustment of cancer children undergoing chemotherapy.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 5-12-year-old cancer children undergoing chemotherapy and hospitalized at the Shahid Madani Center in 2022. Among the clients referring to the hospital, 40 children were selected and assigned into two intervention and control groups (20 per group). The intervention was presented as a spiritual care based on the model of Sound heart in five sessions of 60 minutes in four weeks. The data were collected by a demographics form and Dokhanchi’s Adjustment Questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software (version 16).

The mean adjustment score in the control group was 64.11 ± 9.02 before the intervention and 63.32 ± 10.04 after the intervention, and this difference in was not statistically significant (p=0.183). However, the mean adjustment score in the intervention group was 57.55 ± 11.24 before the invention and 74.85 ± 10.54 after the intervention, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001).

Implications for Practice: 

According to the findings, the adjustment of children who received spiritual care based on the sound heart pattern considerably increased. It is suggested that consider spiritual care based on this pattern in the care program of these patients.