The Clinical Value of Psychological Intervention in Preparing Young Children with Neurological Tumors for Radiotherapy

Abstract

Objective

To explore the clinical utility of psychological intervention during the radiotherapy of young children aged 3-5 years old with neuro-oncological tumors.

Methods

A total of 105 children aged 3-5 years with neuro-oncological diseases who underwent radiotherapy at Sanjiu Brain Hospital in Guangdong from January 2016 to December 2018 were selected. Fifty-two children who were admitted in 2016 served as the control group and received standard nursing care. Fifty-three children who were hospitalized from 2017 to 2018 were assigned to the experimental group and received psychological interventions in addition to regular care. The psychological interventions included evaluating medical fear ratings and providing pre-radiotherapy psychological interventions such as radiotherapy education, game simulation, systematic desensitization, and other techniques.

Results

The proportions of children who actively completed radiotherapy in the control and experimental groups were 30.77% and 86.79%, respectively. The percentage of children who cried was 28.85% in the control group and 3.77% in the experimental group. The experimental group had a considerably lower rate of sedative drug usage compared to the control group. Children in the experimental group had significantly higher compliance than those in the control group.

Conclusion

The implementation of psychological intervention could significantly reduce the need for sedative drugs during radiotherapy for children aged 3-5 years, thus preventing unnecessary expenditure of medical resources.