The findings of this study demonstrated that those children
who could communicate better with parents or nurses usually
get some information about the disease shortly after diagnosis,
while children who were not told about the disease, or
those who’s parents refused to talk about it by avoidance or
hiding, always had bad communication during the early stage.
In China, because of the severity of leukemia, parents always
request that the doctors or nurses hide the disease from the
children. This leads to reduced occasions of communication
about disease between children and health professionals or
parents, and even resulted in children having more emotional
problems which could make a communicating barrier between
them. Studies have shown that if parents could tell
children with leukemia the truth about the disease, and tell
them selected information about the illness, such as the
duration of treatment, the purpose of various tests and procedures,
it can enhance the sense of prognosis, improve
children’s ability to cope with the disease, and promote
communication between children and parents