Distressing events for children with cancer (N = 121), 0 to 19 years of age, were investigated. Data were gathered through interviews with 50 children, 65 parents, and 118 nurses. Each participant was asked: "Has there been any especially distressing event for you/your child/the child with regard to disease and treatment?" Data were analyzed by content analysis. The categories that emerged from the analysis were grouped into a physical and an emotional dimension. The most frequently mentioned aspects of distress referred to the physical dimension: pain resulting from diagnostic procedures and treatments, nausea, and fatigue. The most frequently mentioned physical aspect of distress was, for children 0 to 3, 4 to 7, and 8 to 12 years of age, pain resulting from diagnostic procedures and treatments, and for children > or =13 years of age, nausea. The most frequently mentioned aspects of distress referred to the emotional dimension were categorized as confinement, feeling of alienation, and worry before medical procedures. The most frequently mentioned emotional aspect of distress was, for children 0 to 3 years of age, confinement; 4 to 7 years of age, feeling of alienation; 8 to 12 years of age, worry about death; and > or =13 years of age, changed appearance. For children 0 to 3, 4 to 7, and > or =13 years of age, aspects of distress of a physical character were mentioned most frequently. For children 8 to 12 years of age, aspects of distress of an emotional character were mentioned most frequently.

Changes seem to exist both in the primary gustatory sense as well as in food perception in paediatric cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Single solutions, such as efforts to serve "tasty food", do not suffice alone. A more effective solution may be to combine different strategies and combinations of oral, enteral and parenteral nutrition should be considered to prevent malnutrition.

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Adequate nutrition is an important part of supportive therapy for the pediatric cancer patient. The aim of this study was to assess parents' perceptions of their child's eating pattern after onset of chemotherapy and the strategies they used to cope when eating problems arose. A semistructured interview was performed with parents of 11 consecutively admitted children. The results showed that parents have a realistic perception of their child's food intake and that they are able to recognize reasons for poor food intake that may be unknown to the staff. The individual responses of the parents and the mechanisms of coping were unique for each individual. The responsibility of getting the child to eat was distressing for many parents. The study indicates that parents need continuous support to serve an optimal role in the nutritional care of their child.