Leukemia is the most common form of childhood cancer and is an
abnormal unrestricted proliferation of immature white blood cells in the bone marrow and
certain blood forming tissues. Chemotherapy is the treatment of choice and is accompanied
by several side-effects. Objective: To identify impact of management on self-care of
chemotherapy side-effects among leukemic children, to find out patients self-care deficit and
to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching side-effect management technique (SEMT). Setting:
The study was conducted at In-patient and Out-patient pediatric units at El-Mansoura
University Oncology Center. Subjects: 110 children with leukemia. Tools: Two tools were
used to elicit the necessary data; the leukemic children's structured interview schedule, and
the Karnovski Scale used to assess the performance status of the patients and the Side-Effect
Management Technique. Results: more than two-thirds of the studied children were males
(67.3%) compared to (32.7%) who females. Most common side-effects of chemotherapy were
anorexia (84.5%), nausea and vomiting (80.9%), alopecia (72.7%), fatigue (64.5%) and
stomatitis (55%). There was statistically significant difference between measures which were
used before and after SEMT to most of side-effects experienced by patients who received
chemotherapy. Conclusion: Patients who received chemotherapy developed side-effects
related to each drug. Side-effect management technique as nursing measures helped leukemic
children to acquire self-care behaviors to manage raised side-effects. Recommendations:Health teaching plan should be available to the patient and his family, and nurses should discuss with physicians different protocols of treatment to have information about different cytotoxic drugs.