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Follow‐up care of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer: The role of health beliefs
Author(s) -
Lupatsch Judith E.,
Wengenroth Laura,
Rueegg Corina S.,
Teuffel Oliver,
GumyPause Fabienne,
Kuehni Claudia E.,
Michel Gisela
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.25755
Subject(s) - medicine , attendance , odds ratio , childhood cancer , health care , adolescent health , confidence interval , family medicine , logistic regression , odds , young adult , cancer , gerontology , nursing , pathology , economics , economic growth
Background Little is known about follow‐up care attendance of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer, and which factors foster or hinder attendance. Attending follow‐up care is especially important for adolescent survivors to allow for a successful transition into adult care. We aimed to (i) describe the proportion of adolescent survivors attending follow‐up care; (ii) describe adolescents' health beliefs; and (iii) identify the association of health beliefs, demographic, and medical factors with follow‐up care attendance. Procedure Of 696 contacted adolescent survivors diagnosed with cancer at ≤16 years of age, ≥5 years after diagnosis, and aged 16–21 years at study, 465 (66.8%) completed the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study questionnaire. We assessed follow‐up care attendance and health beliefs, and extracted demographic and medical information from the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry. Cross‐sectional data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Results Overall, 56% of survivors reported attending follow‐up care. Most survivors (80%) rated their susceptibility for late effects as low and believed that follow‐up care may detect and prevent late effects (92%). Few (13%) believed that follow‐up care is not necessary. Two health beliefs were associated with follow‐up care attendance (perceived benefits: odds ratio [OR]: 1.56; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07–2.27; perceived barriers: OR: 0.70; 95%CI: 0.50–1.00). Conclusions We show that health beliefs are associated with actual follow‐up care attendance of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer. A successful model of health promotion in adolescent survivors should, therefore, highlight the benefits and address the barriers to keep adolescent survivors in follow‐up care. Pediatr Blood Cancer © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.