Impact of Exercise on Psychological Well-Being in Patients with Pediatric Cancer: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Objective:This study was conducted to investigate the effects of exercise onpsychological disorders in patients receiving childhood cancer treatment.Methods:Thestudy group consisted of patients with cancer between the ages of 9 and 17 who weretreated in the Hematology–Oncology units of Erciyes University. For the sample group,children with cancer were informed about the content of the study, and 40 children withcancer agreed to participate in the study voluntarily. The volunteers were divided into twogroups, control and experimental, each consisting of 20 people. For the pre-test, participantscompleted a socio-demographic information form, as well as the Kovacs Depression scale,Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the pediatric cancer quality of life scale for children. Volunteersin the experimental group engaged in aerobic and strength exercises for an eight-weekperiod. The study was completed with 8 volunteers in the control group and 14 volunteersin the experimental group due to various factors, such as voluntary withdrawal, diseaseprogression, and mortality. After this period, the volunteers were asked to complete thesame scales once more as a post-test. The SPSS 22.00 statistical analysis program wasused. The independent samplest-test was employed to compare the pre-test and post-test findings of the control and experimental groups, while the paired samplest-test wasused for within-group evaluations.Results:In the within-group comparisons, significantdifferences were observed in favor of the post-test scores in the experimental group forboth the anxiety scale (p< 0.05, Mean: 8.14) and the quality-of-life child form (p< 0.05,Mean: 38.14). For intergroup comparisons, significant differences were found in favor ofthe experimental group in terms of post-test scores of depression (p< 0.05, mean: 10.57)and anxiety scales (p< 0.05, mean: 8.14).Conclusions:It is postulated that this outcomestems from the positive effects of sports activities in helping children undergoing cancertreatment distance themselves from their psychological adversities.