CHEMOTHERAPY-INDUCED NAUSEA AND EMESIS IN PEDIATRIC CANCER-PATIENTS -AN ANALYSIS OF COPING STRATEGIES

We investigated the preference and perceived efficacy of coping strate gies used to manage chemotherapy-induced nausea and emesis in 57 pedia tric oncology patients. Over 85% of children preferred ''Wishful Think ing,'' ''Emotional Regulation,'' and ''Distraction'' to cope with naus ea and ''Emotional Regulation'' to manage emesis. Stepwise logistic re gression analyses revealed that the coping strategy used and its perce ived efficacy depended upon patient age and gender; severity of sympto m distress, time elapsed from last chemotherapy, experience and whethe r nausea or emesis was the identified problem. Successful copers, defi ned as those reporting high coping efficacy and minimal distress, comp osed only 25% of the sample These children most often used ''Problem S olving'' combined with ''Social Support'' for symptom management. Succ essful coping was also associated with lower emetogenic potential of c hemotherapy. The significance of these results is discussed for identi fying high-risk children who may benefit from coping interventions.