Coping Strategies of Nurses toward Patients in Pediatric Oncology

Abstract

Introduction: When facing the difficulties of taking care of children with cancer, coping strategies, which are understood as a set of behavioral responses of a person under a stressful situation and when trying to adapt themselves to the cause of the stress. Objective: To evaluate the Coping strategies nurses use towards pediatric oncologic patients; to determine the number of nurses who use Coping in their routine when taking care of pediatric oncological patients, and to identify the coping strategies and situations that nurses face when taking care of pediatric oncologic patients. Method: The research included quantitative, descriptive and exploratory settings. The data collection was done based on the application of the Coping Strategies Inventory, in the hospital established to the treatment of oncologic illness, Teresina-(PI) from March to September of the year 2010. The target population of this study was formed by all the nurses who work or have already worked in pediatric oncology of the abovementioned hospital, 20 out of 12 nurses agreed to participate. Results: The results demonstrate that all the interviewed population use Coping strategies and the most stressful situation was the terminal phase, and the strategy to face problem-solving situations is the most used by eleven nurses (93.8) and the least used one was the escape dodge, used by just nine nurses (75%). Conclusion: The least use of negative strategies demonstrates that the nurses get worried and involved, and do not deny their responsibilities in the process they are in charge of. The interviewed nurses use mainly positive strategies, although they still turn to means that do not help them with the facing strategy.