Exploring the concerns and experiences of parents of children scheduled to receive haematopoietic stem cell transplant

Aims: To explore the concerns and experiences of parents of children scheduled to receive allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Design: A qualitative secondary analysis of interview data from an intervention study. Methods: A total of 28 parents (4 fathers and 24 mothers) were recruited from a children's hospital, which performs approximately one-third of all paediatric haematopoietic stem cell transplantation cases in Taiwan. Data were collected between September 2015–August 2018 by one researcher with face-to-face interviews, which were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis to extract the main themes. Results: Five themes describing parental concerns prior to paediatric haematopoietic stem cell transplantation were identified: the child became their first priority, seeking solutions, an interweaving of hope and uncertainty, grateful for the chance of a cure and the long road to recovery. Conclusion: Understanding the concerns and experiences of our participants as they navigated the pre-transplantation period could reduce parents’ uncertainty and improve the care of their child. Impact: These experiences provide information that could be used by healthcare professionals to develop support interventions and strategies tailored to the individual needs of each parent, which could prepare parents for their child's haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.