Differences in mothers’ and fathers’ psychological distress after pediatric SCT: a longitudinal study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinally psychological distress and its correlates in mothers and fathers of children who undergo SCT, up to 2 years post SCT. A total of 111 parents of patients diagnosed mainly with leukemia completed standardized measures of depression and anxiety symptoms as indicators of psychological distress, 85 at 1 year pre-SCT and 81 at 2 years post SCT. Parents' age and gender, child's age, diagnosis, radiation history, behavior and physical health were examined as potential related factors. Linear mixed models for repeated measures with appropriate covariance structure were used in the analysis. Depression and anxiety scores significantly decreased by 2 years for mothers and fathers. Mothers reported significantly more depression symptoms than did fathers, but reported comparable symptoms of anxiety. Pre-SCT depression and anxiety scores, mother's age (younger), child's behavior problems, radiation history and diagnosis of neuroblastoma predicted maternal distress 2 years post SCT; pre-SCT depression and anxiety scores, father's age (older) and child's diagnosis predicted father's distress. This study highlights differences and similarities in mothers' and fathers' psychological distress and identifies related risk factors. The results can guide interventions for mothers and fathers whose children undergo SCT based on their pre-SCT psychosocial risk.

Differences in mothers’ and fathers’ health-related quality of life after pediatric SCT: a longitudinal study

“…Consistent with the psychological adjustment outcomes for this sample 21 and for the mothers of children newly diagnosed with cancer, 19 in the current study child's behavior before SCT emerged as a risk factor for poor maternal psychosocial HRQOL 2 years post SCT. Child's poor health before SCT and being female increased the risk for poor maternal psychosocial outcomes.…”

“…This finding is consistent with the psychological results for the same population, indicating reduction of depression symptoms over time. 21 The combined results of this and the previous study are encouraging in terms of the overall long-term psychological and HRQOL outcomes for both mothers and fathers of children who undergo SCT. As a group these parents demonstrated psychological resilience 27,28 when facing pediatric SCT, a high-risk and demanding treatment.…”

“…This is the second study on parental outcomes from a large longitudinal study investigating child 2,3 and parent 21 psychological and HRQOL outcomes. This study was started 1 year after the previous studies.…”

“…The characteristics of the sample were similar to those of the sample described in the psychological outcomes paper. 21 Briefly, the mean age for mothers before SCT Post-hoc paired-wise analysis indicated a significant improvement in psychosocial scores from before to 2 years after SCT (t 56 ¼ 2.68, P ¼ 0.026, ES ¼ 0.36), a small ES. Mothers of children with less behavior problems before SCT were more likely to report improved PSYS HRQOL 2 years after SCT.…”

“…Except for a smaller sample size and different outcome measures, the methods used for this study were the same as those used in the previous parental study. 21 Briefly, parents of children over 3 years of age scheduled to have a SCT, who were fluent in English, were eligible. After approval by the Hospital's Research Ethics Board, parents were invited to participate.…”