'Do you feel well or unwell?' A study on children's experience of estimating their nausea using the digital tool PicPecc.
Linda Esplana, Malin Olsson, Stefan Nilsson
PMID 35452297WHAT IT FOUND
Children found the PicPecc App helped them describe nausea, wellbeing and body areas more clearly, and rewards made them want to use it.
They also said nurses did not always respond in the way they wanted.
Key findings
01The App helped children communicate how they felt and convey their wellbeing more clearly.
02Playfulness, especially the pet reward system, motivated children to complete their assessments.
03Children said their App reports did not always lead to the help they wanted, and nurses sometimes gave medicine in a way that did not match the child's wishes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only five boys and three girls were interviewed, and recruitment came from a Childhood Cancer Centre in West Sweden, so the themes cannot show how most children with cancer would use the App. Children who could not understand or speak Swedish were excluded, and newly diagnosed children were excluded, so the findings do not cover all children in chemotherapy treatment. The children were recruited by staff who treated them, which may have made it harder to report negative experiences. Parents were often present because the Zoom connection needed help, and their comments were not analysed, so the child's voice may have been shaped by parent support. The study reports children's experience of using the App, not a measured change in nausea. The App was tested for the first time by these children, and the version was set to assess nausea, so other functions may have influenced experience.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by Barncancerfonden, Vinnova, STINT, Vetenskapsrådet and Forte, with grant numbers TJ2017-0028, KP2018-0023 and MTI2019-0011.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that PicPecc reduces nausea or improves chemotherapy outcomes. It reports the experience of five boys and three girls using the App, and it did not test symptom relief.