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Bridge Symptoms Between Symptom Clusters in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia During Maintenance Therapy: A
Rongrong Li1, Jinling Ma1, Xinyi Shen2
1Department of Hematology, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Objectives:
This study aimed to explore symptom clusters in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during maintenance therapy, construct a symptom network, identify bridge symptoms, and lay the groundwork for precise symptom management.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 237 children with ALL undergoing maintenance therapy using the Chinese version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale 10 to 18. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the symptom clusters. Network analysis identified bridge symptoms between the symptom clusters.
Results:
Five symptom clusters were identified: emotional, somatic, gastrointestinal, self-image disorder, and neurological. In the network, headache, feeling drowsy, and skin changes served as bridge symptoms connecting the different symptom clusters.
Conclusions:
Children with ALL experienced multiple symptom clusters during maintenance therapy. By identifying and addressing bridge symptoms, personalized management strategies can be formulated to alleviate other symptoms and interrupt the connections between symptom clusters, thereby enhancing the symptom management efficiency.
Implications For Nursing Practice:
This study emphasizes the need to identify the bridge symptoms in children with ALL during maintenance therapy and to develop targeted prevention and early intervention strategies for effective symptom management and alleviate the symptom burden.
