Trends in Nursing Research on Children and Adolescents with Cancer in Korea

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify trends in nursing research on children and adolescents with cancer in Korea and suggest the direction for future research. Methods: A COSI model was used to guide the search process between the years 1988 and 2014, using the keywords ‘cancer’, ‘malignancy’, ‘leukemia’, ‘HSCT’, ‘BMT’, ‘children’, ‘adolescent’ and ‘nursing’. Results: Of 104 papers, 10 were doctoral dissertations, 34 were master’s theses and 60 were from academic journals. Quantitative research accounted for 91.3% while qualitative research accounted for 7.7%. The most frequently used research designs were quasi-experimental (84.6%) for experimental research and surveys (75.6%) for non-experimental research. As survival rates improved, the focus shifted to descriptive studies examining the adjustment of childhood cancer survivors. Conclusion: The overall findings of this study suggest that future research should include more well-designed experimental studies and repeated studies to confirm the effect of previous study findings. Longitudinal studies are recommended to determine long-term child adjustment. Supporting systems and funding are required to help activate research of clinical nurses.