Survivor and Parent Engagement in Childhood Cancer Treatment in Iran

An article entitled: Survivor and parent engagement in childhood cancer treatment in Iran has been published in ecancermedicalscience journal in April 2021. This article is the output of the research performed by MAHAK representatives and volunteers who joined SIOP taskforce of Pediatric Oncology in Developing Countries (PODC) in 2019. This effort flowed naturally from MAHAK’s concern towards enhancing international cooperation to update knowledge and experience with the aim of providing better services for cancer-stricken children and their families.

ecancermedicalscience is an open access cancer journal focused on under-resourced communities. The journal considers articles on all aspects of research relating to cancer, including molecular biology, genetics, pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical reports, controlled trials, health systems, cancer policy and regulatory aspects of cancer care.

To perform fruitful research, a group was formed by MAHAK consisting of Shirin Ahmadnia (Associate Professor at Allame-Tabataba’i University), Atena Kamel Ghalibaf (MAHAK’s volunteer researcher), Saba Kamkar (head of MAHAK’s Innovation & Development dept.), Zahra Mohamadzadeh (MAHAK’s Innovation and Development expert) and Mithra Ghalibafian M.D. (head of MAHAK’s radiation oncology). The research topic focused on the challenges, needs, expectations and issues of children with cancer and their families who are supported by MAHAK. To collect the required data, long survivors, recent survivors and parents of cancer-stricken children were interviewed and their views on how to improve the care and treatment delivered were documented. After the research got completed it was presented in SIOP 2019 Conference in Lyon, France.

After some honing, the research outcome was published as an article in ecancermedicalscience. The conclusion reached was that the majority of respondents espoused a more holistic perspective underlying multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment process. Effective interventions were then generated from the data collected toward a path to obviate many of the challenges facing cancer-stricken children and their families.

We, at MAHAK pay tribute to all scientists, researchers, experts, doctors, volunteers, etc. who dedicate their time, knowledge and experience to children with cancer and help us move forth in the path of providing more impactful services to our main stakeholders.

Click here to read MAHAK’s article.