A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Illness Perception of Parents of Children with Leukemia, Attending Oncology Units, at Aims, Kochi

Leukemia is the most common malignancy of children with a prevalence of 129 in one million, and the second cause of death among children aged 5 to 14 years. Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases. In turn, it is part of the even broader group of diseases affecting the blood, bone marrow, and lymphoid system, which are all known as neoplasm. Leukemia can affect people at any age.

Methods: The approach used for the study was quantitative approach using descriptive research design. The study was conducted among 64 parents of children with non probability convenience sampling technique. The data were collected using knowledge questionnaire and illness perception through illness perception questionnaire (IPQ of Weinman).

Findings: Most of the parents (71.9%) had average knowledge and 25% had good knowledge regarding leukemia. Majority of the parents perceived that their children have experienced symptoms like pain (79.7%). Most of parents (53.10%) had poor illness perception, when considered the personal view about child illness. Majority 70.3% of them strongly agree the cause of illness is unknown. Association was there between level of knowledge and selected demographic variables, such as age of the parents(x² =4.292) and occupation (x² =4.183). And also a positive correlation between knowledge level and illness perception components (r=0.257, 0.243 respectively).

Conclusion: Researcher concluded that most of the parents had average knowledge and each have different perception about their child's illness.