True experience of parents of children with acute leukemia during lumbar puncture: a qualitative research

Objective We aimed to explore the real experience of parents of children with acute leukemia during lumbar puncture, so as to provide the theoretical and practice evidence for development of individualized nursing measures. Methods Twenty parents of children with acute leukemia partici-pated in semi-structured interviews regarding their experience of lumbar puncture. The data were colected and analyzed by the Colaizzi phenomenological methodology. Results Three themes were extracted in-cluding heavy psychological burden, lack of related knowledge of lumbar puncture and demand of multipo-larity. Conclusions Attention should be paid closely to parents of children with acute leukemia during lumbar puncture. The individualized nursing measures should be taken by medical workers in order to truly meet their needs, make them stay in a good state and cooper-ate with medical workers to complete the treatment of children. Key words: Leukemia; Lumbar puncture; Parents; Phenomenological research