Lopes-Júnior LC, de Lima RAG. Utilizing complementary therapy to enhance quality of life and reduce stress and fatigue in pediatric cancer patients. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(11): 98013 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i11.98013]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Luis Carlos Lopes-Júnior, PhD, Professor, Department of Nursing, Federal University of Espírito Santo, 1468 Avenue Marechal Campos, Vitoria 29043-900, Espirito Santo, Brazil. lopesjr.lc@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Apr 16, 2025; 13(11): 98013 Published online Apr 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i11.98013
Utilizing complementary therapy to enhance quality of life and reduce stress and fatigue in pediatric cancer patients
Luis Carlos Lopes-Júnior, Regina Aparecida Garcia de Lima
Luis Carlos Lopes-Júnior, Department of Nursing, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitoria 29043-900, Espirito Santo, Brazil
Regina Aparecida Garcia de Lima, Department of Maternal-Infant and Public Health Nursing, University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing, Ribeirão Preto 14040-902, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Co-first authors: Luis Carlos Lopes-Júnior and Regina Aparecida Garcia de Lima.
Author contributions: Lopes-Júnior LC contributed to resources, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition; Lopes-Júnior LC and de Lima RAG contributed to conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis and investigation, and wrote the original draft, they contributed equally as co-first authors; and all authors read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), No. 311427/2023-5.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Luis Carlos Lopes-Júnior, PhD, Professor, Department of Nursing, Federal University of Espírito Santo, 1468 Avenue Marechal Campos, Vitoria 29043-900, Espirito Santo, Brazil. lopesjr.lc@gmail.com
Received: June 15, 2024 Revised: November 5, 2024 Accepted: December 5, 2024 Published online: April 16, 2025 Processing time: 194 Days and 2.4 Hours
Abstract
The international scientific literature presents still incipient results regarding the management of cancer symptom clusters by oncology nursing, especially in pediatric oncology. This is a promising field of investigation for clinical nurses and researchers, and when it is subsidized by medium-range theories, they corroborate the diagnoses and interventions of nursing in oncology, enhancing the science of nursing care. This minireview article aims to discuss the utilizing the hospital clowns as a complementary therapy, to enhance quality of life and reduce stress and fatigue in pediatric cancer patients. Overall, the evidence presented so far pointed out that complementary therapy might help improve the quality of life of pediatric cancer patients, and that complementary therapy usage should be part of a health comprehensive care model, delivering therapeutic approaches that might enhance the mind-body during a pediatric cancer patients’ life span. The results of scientific investigations by nurses, particularly those linked to the basic sciences, play a critical role in advancing personalized care in pediatric integrative oncology.
Core Tip: The international scientific literature presents still incipient results regarding the management of cancer symptom clusters in pediatric oncology. This is a promising field of investigation for clinical nurses and researcher. The evidence presented so far pointed out that complementary therapies might help improve pediatric cancer patient’s quality of life, and that complementary therapies usage should be part of a health comprehensive care model, delivering therapeutic approaches that might enhance the mind-body during a pediatric cancer patients’ life span. The results of scientific investigations carried out by nurses linked to the basic sciences, are the hallmarks of personalized care in pediatric integrative oncology.
