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Adaptation Strategies for Coping With the Impact of Sensory Alterations on Eating Behavior in Children With Cancer: A Qualitative Study From the Perspective of Children and Parents

NCT07490093 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2026-03-24

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Childhood cancer is a serious and life-changing disease that affects thousands of children every year worldwide. In addition to the disease itself, cancer treatments such as chemotherapy often cause difficult side effects. Among these, changes in taste and smell are very common but still poorly understood in children. These sensory changes can make food taste unpleasant or smell different, leading children to eat less, avoid certain foods, or develop strong food aversions. As a result, many children with cancer experience weight loss, poor nutrition, and reduced quality of life, which can also affect how well they tolerate treatment.

Research suggests that between 40% and 60% of children with cancer struggle to maintain good nutritional status during treatment. Taste and smell alterations play a major role in these difficulties. Children may experience nausea triggered by food smells, changes in food texture perception, or a loss of pleasure in eating. Parents often report feeling powerless and lacking clear guidance on how to help their child cope with these problems.

While taste and smell disturbances have been widely studied in adults with cancer, much less is known about how children experience these changes and, importantly, how they and their families adapt to them. Parents play a key role in supporting their child's eating habits, but their perspectives may differ from the child's own experiences.

This study aims to better understand how children undergoing chemotherapy and their parents perceive changes in taste, smell, and food texture, and how these changes affect eating behavior, emotions, and social life. Using individual semi-structured interviews, the study will explore the coping strategies used by children and parents to manage these sensory changes, both at home and in the hospital setting.

By giving children and parents a voice, this research seeks to identify practical, real-life strategies that families find helpful. The results will contribute to improving nutritional support and guidance for children with cancer, with the ultimate goal of enhancing their well-being, quality of life, and treatment outcomes.

Conditions

  • Taste Alterations
  • Smell Disorder
  • Eating Behavior Changes

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

No Intervention: Observational Cohort

no intervention

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Nutricia, Inc.

    collaborator INDUSTRY

  • Centre Leon Berard

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Anestis Dougkas · Institut Lyfe

Eligibility

Min Age
6 Years
Max Age
17 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-02-28
Primary Completion
2026-10-31
Completion
2026-10-31

Countries

  • France

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07490093 on ClinicalTrials.gov