Legacy- making in palliative care of pediatric cancer

Introduction: Cancer is one of the most important chronic diseases of children in the world, and a significant number of them die every year. Palliative care interventions can help the child and family to dealing with life-threatening conditions. Legacy-making is one of the methods of palliative care in seriously ill children whose death is predictable.  The purpose of this study is investigating the legacy-making as a component of palliative care in pediatric cancer based on recent research and literatures in Iran and other countries. Method: in this narrative review, we first searched key words palliative care, legacy making, legacy building and pediatric cancer both in English and Persian in various and valid databases including: Google scholar, PubMed, proQuest, SID, MAGIRAN, IRANdoc, IRANMEDEX, and ELSEVIER published between ۲۰۰۰ -۲۰۱۸. Then articles that were directly or indirectly related to the title of the article separated. Then articles with full text were assessed. Results: After a thorough and targeted study of the articles, legacy in pediatric palliative cancer was categorized in different dimensions: the types of Legacy-making in pediatric cancer palliative care, the benefits of Legacy-making in pediatric cancer palliative care, the potential negative dimensions of Legacy-making in Palliative care for children, Legacy-making in pediatric palliative care in Iran and other countries, Principles and the gaps of legacy in pediatric palliative care Conclusion: Legacy-making is a simple and time-efficient intervention in pediatric cancer palliative care. It can help the child and family to dealing with pre and post-death conditions. But more research is needed to assess the positive and negative legacy making effects in children.

Keywords:

Pediatric cancer , Palliative Care , Legacy , سرطان کودکان , مراقبت تسکینی , یادبود گذاری