The aim of this study was to describe young (under the age of 7) children's needs as expressed by their behavior, body language and verbal expression through observations during their initial hospitalization after being diagnosed with cancer. Twelve children under the age of seven were followed during 26 hours with non-participant unstructured observations. Field notes were written after each observation and transcribed into a narrative text, which was analyzed by content analysis at both manifest and latent level. Five themes were identified, of which "need to have the parent close by" was the most prominent. The other themes were "need to play and feel joy," "need for participation in care and treatment," "need for a good relationship with the staff," and "need for physical and emotional satisfaction." The results indicate that the children needed their parents and the parents' presence helped the children to express other needs. Professionals need to support the child and his or her parents so that the parents in their turn can support and alleviate their child's hospitalization and cancer treatment.

The aim of the study was to illuminate the families' lived experience after completing a child's cancer treatment. The study took place at a University Hospital in southern Sweden. Interviews were carried out with 10 mothers, eight fathers, four patients and two siblings from a total of 10 families. The interviews were analysed with a hermeneutical phenomenological approach. One essential theme emerged from their stories, 'returning to a changed ordinary life--incorporating a trying and contradictory experience'. The families felt relieved that the treatment was over yet they experienced strains in their daily life. Family members felt changed and especially the parents needed to focus on themselves in order to recover. Closeness with other people, especially their own family, was important. The previously sick children felt a loss of concern from their parents when treatment had ended, in contrast to siblings who experienced increased attention from their parents. Parents experienced being in uncharted territory and sometimes missed the security of hospital. For professionals it is important to offer the family a structured follow-up to help them in their daily life after the child's treatment is completed.

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Some children with autism and learning disabilities also have aberrant behaviours difficult to regulate, stressful both for the child and for family members. The present case study concerns experiences of 10 parents from five families before and two years after entrusting their 10-11 year old child with autism to a group home. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of narrative interviews with the parents before the child's moving showed them experiencing grief and sorrow, total exhaustion because of inability to regulate their child's behaviours, social isolation, and negative effects on the child's siblings, but experiencing themselves as more sympathetic than earlier towards other people with problems. Two years later they experienced relief for the family due to the group home arrangement and the child's improvement, but with an ethical dilemma, which made them feel guilty, despite increased hope for the future. Some also felt unhappy with the staff situation at the group home.

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