RESULTS
Nineteen questionnaires were completed out of a total of 32 families who
had received them. The age of the patients ranged from 0 to 17 years
(median 11). The gender of the patients was not included among the
questions in the questionnaire, but in the reference population the two
components were exactly 50% each. Diagnoses were central nervous system
(CNS) tumors in 10 cases, osteosarcoma in 5, neuroblastoma in 4, and
different diagnoses in the remaining 13 patients as shown by table 2.
In order to classify the patients according to their estimated
prognosis, we utilized different tumor-specific staging systems, i.e.
the Chang system for CNS neoplasms, the INRGSS for neuroblastoma, the
National Wilm’s Tumor Study system for nephroblastoma, the TNM for
osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma, the Reese and Ellsworth system for
retinoblastoma, the Ann-Harbor system for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. For those
tumor types for which a staging system was not available, the presence
of metastases and resistance to previous treatments were considered as
severe prognostic factors.9 Patients were therefore
divided into two groups according to these principles, as shown in Table
2.
Table 3 shows how the flight from Ukraine was managed from the very
beginning of the conflict together with an opinion on the sustainment of
care from the time patients were admitted to Italian hospitals.
Regarding the questions on the emotions felt upon arrival in Italy, 44%
of the responders said that “hope” was their main feeling, followed by
fear, sadness and relief in 16% of the cases.
As for prior knowledge about Italy, 42% of the responders said that
they had already heard of Italy for its cities and monuments, 24% for
famous films and actors, with only 12% having acquaintances or friends
in our country. Seventy-four percent had a positive opinion of Italy
prior to leaving Ukraine and 63% changed it for the better after
arriving.
Sixty-three percent expected to be welcomed in Italy for a long period,
necessary for the care of their children. Only 16% hoped to be able to
move permanently, and in the free note section, they demonstrated a
widespread desire, in the near or distant future, to be able to return
to their homeland. Italians were perceived as kind (95%), generous
(58%), and the quality most often mentioned was goodness (6/19).
Table 4 summarizes the attitude toward care received in Italy: most
parents reported that they believed their children were cared with the
same attention as Italian patients, and had good relationship with
Italian healthcare staff and, in general, with the Italian population.
When asked if there were issues and possible improvements for their stay
in Italy, respondents correlated amelioration with the positive outcome
for their children (15%), the presence of the whole family (15%), the
end of the war (10%), and the overcoming of language barriers (10%).