This study is aimed at reviewing the existing literature about children with cancer and their families in order to identify themes that have been researched and to survey indicators of need, thus giving subsidies for the systematization of nursing care. Systemized data collection was carried out in computerized databases between 1997 and 2002 using the keywords child, cancer, chronic illness/disease, family and nursing. A non-systemized research of scientific publications was also carried out. Results are grouped in three themes: impact of the child's cancer on the family system; adaptation process and coping strategies used by the parents in the face of the illness; and the process of loss and mourning in view of the child's death. The review demonstrated that nursing is constructing specific knowledge about the individual, cultural and regional needs of families of children with cancer, with a view to a nursing assistance that considers care in accordance to the singularity of each case.
Pediatric nursing; Chronic disease; Neoplasms; Child; Family; Family nursing