Digital Storytelling in Symptom Management Pediatric Oncology

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Digital Storytelling Method in Symptom Method in Children With Oncological Problems

The aim of this clinical study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital storytelling method in symptom management in children diagnosed with oncology. It will also provide information about children's experiences with Digital Storytelling and the use of the method. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is there a difference between the anxiety scores of children who applied the Digital Storytelling Method and those who did not?
• Is there a difference between the fatigue scores of children who applied the Digital Storytelling Method and those who did not?
• Is there a difference between the nausea scores of children who applied the Digital Storytelling Method and those who did not?
• Is there a difference between the pain scores of children who applied and did not apply the Digital Storytelling Method?

Participants:

Complete the first stage data forms. Visit the clinic every 7-15 days for the digital storytelling process, which consists of 4 stages. After the storytelling process is completed, have a process evaluation meeting with the researcher.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cancer; Child, Only; Symptoms and Signs; Narration
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Digital Storytelling

Detailed Description

Participants; Enterprise Group,

1. Interview (Week 1); Meeting the child, conducting a qualitative interview for needs analysis and introducing the forms
2. Interview (Week 2); Finding a digital story topic
3. Interview (Week 3); Writing a story on the specified topic
4. Interview (Week 4); Converting the story into digital form
5. Interview (Week 5); Showing the created story
6. Interview (Week 6); Conducting a qualitative interview regarding the digital storytelling process.

Each meeting will be held in 1-week periods. Primary outcome tools will be applied as pretest and posttest once in the 1st and 6th interviews, and twice in the other interviews.

Control Group;

1. Interview (Week 1); Meeting the child, introducing and applying the forms
2. Interview (Week 6); Conducting a qualitative interview regarding the digital storytelling process. Showing the videos prepared by the children in the initiative group. Application of primary outcome tools.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 35
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey (Türkiye)
  • İzmit
    • Kocaeli, İzmit, Turkey (Türkiye)
      • Kocaeli Universıty

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 7-18 years old,
• Having received at least 1 cure of treatment,
• Completed the induction phase and is in the consolidation phase,
• Children who and their parents agree to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• who cannot speak Turkish,
• Having a secondary chronic disease
• Having a second disease that will affect the cognitive process,
• Children/adolescents who cannot complete the 4 stages of the digital storytelling process.
• Children/adolescents who cannot complete the 4 stages of the digital storytelling process.
• Children/adolescents who take a break of more than 3 weeks between storytelling processes.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group; Children's group where digital storytelling method was applied and stories were created	Other: Digital Storytelling; 4 stages of digital storytelling will be implemented.
Other: Control group; Children's group where the stories of children in the initiative group will be watched	Other: Digital Storytelling; 4 stages of digital storytelling will be implemented.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children	It will be used to evaluate children's state anxiety.	It will be used in the 1st and 6th interviews with the child (1st week-6th week).
Visual Analogue Scale for Fatigue	It is a single-item scale used to determine the intensity of fatigue in patients. The patient is asked to score his or her fatigue on a scale of 0-10. 0 means no fatigue, while 10 is considered a lot of fatigue.	It will be applied in all interviews with the child (6 interviews), before and after the interview. It will be applied 12 times in 6 weeks.
The Baxter Retching Faces Scale	The scale is applied to children/adolescents in the 7-18 age group. There are a total of six items in the scale, ranging from no force to vomiting, and six facial expressions indicating each item. While the scale can be used by asking the child to choose the face that best suits him/her, the cartoon can also be shown and evaluated through observation. The average application time of the scale is 2 minutes and scores are given between 0-10. Using 0 as 'no nausea' and 10 as 'vomiting'	It will be applied in all interviews with the child (6 interviews), before and after the interview. It will be applied 12 times in 6 weeks.
Wong-Baker FACES pain rating scale (WB-FACES)	This scale is used to diagnose pain in children aged 3-18. This scale has six faces representing increasing pain intensity from zero to five from left to right. The far left face has a smiling expression, indicating a pain-free state, while the far right face has a crying expression, corresponding to the most severe pain. Six facial expressions are scored from left to right on a scale of 0 to 10 points (0 points = very happy/no pain, 10 points = most severe pain). As the score from the scale increases, pain tolerance decreases, and as the score decreases, tolerance increases. The child is told to choose the face that best expresses his or her emotions.	It will be applied in all interviews with the child (6 interviews), before and after the interview. It will be applied 12 times in 6 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
SSPedi: Symptom Screening Scale in Pediatric Patients	The screening tool includes 15 symptoms that evaluate the symptoms children have experienced in the last two days. Each symptom is evaluated with a 5-point Likert-type scoring system, and the score range varies between 0-60. Higher scores indicate that the number of symptoms and the discomfort they cause increase.	It will be used in the 1st and 6th interviews with the child (1st week-6th week).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Kocaeli University
• Collaborators: Gazi University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 13, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): September 27, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 29, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 28, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): May 31, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): August 26, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 19, 2025
• Last Verified: June 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: cancer; nursing; child; symptom management; digital storytelling
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavior; Communication; Neoplasms; Signs and Symptoms; Narration
• Other Study ID Numbers: E.795978

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No