Children's Experiences of Participation in a Family Support Program When Their Parent Has Incurable Cancer

Abstract

For a child, facing the imminent death of a parent is a highly stressful situation. This study assessed a preventive support program for children aged between 5 and 18 years and their families when a mother or father has an incurable form of cancer. We chose a family-based approach to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors by increasing positive interactions between parents and children and by increasing their mutual understanding of the illness and its family impact. In this article, we focus especially on the children's experiences of how the Family Support Program met their needs and supported their coping. The qualitative study involved collecting descriptive data via in-depth interviews with children of cancer patients in palliative care after participation in the Family Support Program. The program helped the children to feel more secure; increased their knowledge and understanding; helped them become aware of their own role, their family's strengths, and whom they could approach for help; and helped them realize that it was good and helpful to talk about the illness situation. They needed to talk in private without having to think about other family members' reactions, but they also needed to be in dialogue with other family members.

Parental divorce and parental death - An integrative systematic review of children’s double bereavement

“…The reference lists of these articles were checked for any other relevant studies, resulting in one more study by Bugge, Helseth and Darbyshire. [25,26] Eleven studies published from 1995 to 2009, and conducted in the USA (n = 7); UK (n = 1); Australia (n = 1) and Norway (n = 2) were finally included in the current integrative review. Six of the studies used a qualitative approach, whereas the other five studies were based on quantitative methods.…”

“…[26] Children need to be in dialogue with other family members, but Bugge showed that the children also need support, without having to think about family members' reactions. [25] The data analysis and reduction from the review revealed a number of themes and subcategories across the included studies, as depicted in Table 3. …”

“…[25] Parental divorce followed by critical illness/death represents loss upon loss. [2,27,35,36] Children and adolescents are faced with the challenge of managing the double bereavement, which involves being able to shift between the loss and a restoration orientation.…”

“…[11] Also, the individual's age, gender, pre-losses and losses following life changes, as well as the help the family receive, are important. [11,25] Regarding age, adolescents in divorced families try to protect their parents and do not share their feelings openly with them. The oldest adolescents in the family tend to become caretakers, helping their parents or siblings in practical matters, and parents are often unaware of the stress and overwhelming feelings of sadness and fear in their adolescent.…”

Effect of Fatigue on Quality of Life in Pediatric Oncology Patients

“…Semptomların tanılanması ve yönetiminde sağlık profesyonelleri kadar çocuk ve ebeveyne de önemli rol düşmekte, ancak çalışmalar ebeveynlerin bu süreci yönetmede yeterli olmadığını göstermektedir. Ayrıca ebeveynlerin, çocuklarında kanser tedavisinin yan etkilerine bağlı oluşan semptomları belirlemede ve uygun girişimler uygulamada zorlandıkları belirtilmektedir (13,32). Yaşam kalitesini olumsuz yönde etkileyen semptomlar arasında yer alan yorgunluğun tanılanması ve yönetimi çocuk ve ailesi açısından önem taşımaktadır (13,32).…”