BEHAVIORAL-EMOTIONAL DISORDERS IN CHILDREN WITH LEUKEMIA UNDERGOING CHEMOTHERAPY REFERRED TO SHAHID MOTAHARI EDUCATIONAL CENTER AFFILIATED TO URMIA UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Leukemia is the most common childhood tumor, accounting for approximately
one-third of all cancers of this age. Children with leukemia often receive multimodal treatments, which
can cause acute and long-term side effects. Painful procedures, long hospital stays, and unclear
prognosis are common stressors that can affect these children's emotional and behavioral systems. This
cross-sectional study was performed to determine the extent of behavioral-emotional problems in
children with leukemia undergoing chemotherapy at Shahid Motahari Educational Center in Urmia,
2019.
Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 163 children with leukemia (mean age 9.27 ± 2.82
years) who were referred to the oncology clinic of Shahid Motahari Hospital were selected using
available sampling method. The demographic information questionnaire and the Child Behavior
Checklist (CBCL) were used to collect data. After getting acquainted with the children and their parents,
the purpose of the study was explained to them. After obtaining informed consent from the parents of
all patients, the questionnaires were completed by the parents. The collected data were analyzed using
descriptive and inferential statistical methods (independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance).
Results: In this study, the mean and standard deviation of total, internalized, and externalized behavioral
problems were 97.92 ± 28.24, 61.9 ± 16.51, and 25.11 ± 11.34, respectively Based on the normalized
average, the highest score was related to the withdrawn/depression component (57.81 out of 100).
Statistical analysis of the data showed that the mean score of total behavioral problems (p = 0.000) and
all the subscales were significantly different among the participants with different levels of education
(p<0.05), but they had no significant relationship with gender, place of residence (city / village), number
of children, parents' education, parents' occupation and family economic status (p>0.05). In addition,
the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship
between the mean score of total problems and quantitative variables of child's age, age of diagnosis,
father's age and mother's age (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Based on results of this study, the scores of anxiety / depression, isolation / depression,
attention problems and internalized behavioral problems were above average. The mean scores of total
behavioral problems and their components in school children (the first year of high school) is much
higher than the children of lower grades. Therefore, it is important to identify and prevent such cases in
high school children with leukemia.