PARENT'S PERCEPTION OF MOBILE HEALTH TECHNOLOGY UTILIZE IN HOME CARE-GIVEN TO THEIR CHILDREN WITH CANCER

Abstract Background: Mobile health technologies support home care for children with cancer. Parents’ perceptions influence their effective use in pediatric cancer care. Aim: to assess parent’s perception of mobile health technology utilize in home care-given to their children with cancer. Design: A descriptive research design was utilized. Sample: A purposive sample of 418parents and children's cancer who agreed to participate in the study was utilized. Setting: The study was conducted at National Cancer Institute affiliated to Cairo University. Tools: Data were collected using three tools. 1st: parents and cancer children interviewing questionnaire, 2nd: Parents 'knowledge toward care given by using mobile health technology-interviewing questionnaire, and 3rd: Parents attitude regarding mobile health technology. Results: the mean age of parents whose studied was (mean age 33.10 SD 3.82), and the mean age of studied children with cancer was. (Mean age 10.76 SD3.72). The total mean knowledge score of parents was 26.6±4.7and ,total mean attitude score of parents was 49.3±8.1. there is a significant strong direct positive correlation between knowledge and attitude of studied parents regarding mobile health technology (r=0.61, p=0.00).. Conclusion: The parents of children with cancer had moderate to good levels of total knowledge and a total attitude toward mobile health technology, The parents’ attitudes are significantly influenced by education level (p=0.01), where higher education was correlated with more positive attitudes toward mobile health technology. Recommendations: improve knowledge and attitude of parents toward mobile health technology utilization to their cancer children.