Efficacy Of Child Yoga Programme on Quality of Life of Pediatric Oncology Patients.
Condition: Pediatric Cancer
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Pediatric oncology patients experience physical and psycho-social symptoms that negatively
      affect their quality of life during treatment. "Yoga" practices, known as a unique physical
      activity that combines mind-body awareness and breathing exercises to improve the quality of
      life of pediatric oncology patients, have recently become popular.

      The study was conducted experimentally in the form of pre-test and post-test with 30
      controls, 30 experimental group children who were treated in the Pediatric Oncology /
      Hematology service of a university hospital and their parents, in order to investigate the
      effect of children's yoga program on the quality of life of pediatric oncology patients.
      Ethics committee, institutional and parental consent was obtained. Data were collected using
      a questionnaire form and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory "PedsQL (4.0)". Participants
      filled out the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory "PedsQL (4.0)" Child and Parent Form
      before the 3-week (6 sessions) yoga program and salivary cortisol samples were taken from the
      children. These procedures were repeated after the yoga program. Anova test and "Paired
      sample t" test were used among statistical analysis methods. Statistical significance was
      accepted as p <0.05.
    

Detailed description: 
      A questionnaire form was used to learn the socio-demographic characteristics of the children
      participating in the study and their families. The survey questions are: (age of parents,
      employment status, child's age, gender, maternal/paternal age, income status, diagnosis of
      the child, hospitalization the reason (chemotherapy, new diagnosis, relapsed? hospitalized
      for side effects of the disease? how much whether he was diagnosed a long time ago, how long
      he has been in the hospital, whether he went to school, whether he had previous yoga
      experience, whether he had knowledge about children's yoga before.

      In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the child yoga program, the study was conducted
      with pre-test and post-test. Before the first yoga session, the experimental and control
      group caregiver parents and children was completed the quality of life inventory.

      The children's yoga program lasted for 3 weeks, 2 sessions per week. At the end of the 6th
      session, parents and the child's quality of life inventory was repeated.

      In order to evaluate the effect of yoga on stress of children, cortisol from saliva samples
      were taken both groups before the program starts.The measurement was performed for both
      groups after a 3-week (6 sessions) yoga program.

      The hypotheses in the study can be summarized as follows:

      H1: Physical activity pre-test and post-test scores of the control and experimental groups
      There is a significant difference between the groups in favor of the experimental group.

      H2: Emotional functionality pre-test and post-test scores of the control and experimental
      groups there is a significant difference between the groups in favor of the experimental
      group.

      H3: Social functionality pre-test and post-test scores of the control and experimental groups
      there is a significant difference between the groups in favor of the experimental group.

      H4: School functionality pre-test and post-test scores of the control and experimental groups
      there is a significant difference between the groups favor of the experimental group.

      H5: Cortisol levels, pre-test and post-test scores of the control and experimental groups
      there is a significant difference between the groups in favor of the experimental group.

      SPSS 22.0 Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program used for data
      analysis.descriptive, parametric and non-parametric statistical analyzes, mean, standard
      deviation, median, frequency, percentile, minimum, maximum values calculated. The
      effectiveness of the yoga program was measured using the anova (mixed anova) test and the
      "Paired sample t" test. p<0.05 value was accepted as the statistical significance limit.

      Chıld Yoga Programme:

      In our study, Hatha Yoga, one of the known and widely practiced yoga types all over the
      world. (HY) consisting of components; asanas (yoga poses), pranayamas (breathing techniques),
      relaxation, relaxation exercises and meditation sessions were prepared. Sessions are 45
      minutes; For those who are new to yoga for the first 15 minutes; mental and physical
      preparation; asanas, pranayamas taught, drama followed by breathing exercises and asanas in
      the next 30 minutes, relaxation in the last 15 minutes techniques (imaginary journey) and
      meditation.
    

Intervention name(s): chıld yoga programme
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Yoga sessions were in the form of 6 sessions and were held as 2 sessions per week. The program was given by an expert yoga instructor who has an international "Yoga Alliance" approved child and adolescent yoga certificate.Consisting of the components of Hatha Yoga (HY), one of the yoga types known and widely practiced all over the world; Sessions consisting of asanas (yoga postures), pranayamas (breathing techniques), relaxation, relaxation exercises and meditation were prepared. Sessions are 45 minutes; For those who are new to yoga for the first 15 minutes; mental and physical preparation; asanas, pranayamas were taught, drama followed by breathing exercises and asanas in the next 30 minutes, relaxation techniques (imaginary journey) and meditation in the last 15 minutes.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Children who were treated at Mersin University Medical Faculty Hospital were determined by the "simple random selection" method and formed the experimental and control groups.
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: Child Health and Diseases Nursing; cortisol; quality of life; stress; yoga