Emotional Distress and Subjectively Significant Difficulties in Adolescents with Oncological and Oncohematological Diseases Undergoing Chemotherapy and their Mothers

Abstract

The work aims to study emotional distress, the need for information about the disease and treatment, and the need for psychological assistance in adolescents undergoing inpatient treatment for oncological and oncohematological diseases. The paper presents research materials on a sample of patients aged 12—18 (N=28, 12 boys, 16 girls) and their mothers. We used distress scales for children (a version suitable for respondents aged 7—17) and parents with a modified Problem List, and questionnaires for doctors in the chemotherapy department. The results obtained indicate the severity of emotional distress, subjectively significant difficulties, the need for medical information and psychological assistance in patients and parents. Clinically significant distress was detected in 62.8% of adolescents and 64.4% of mothers. No association was found between reports of needs for information, psychological assistance, and overall distress scores in either adolescents or their mothers. Thus, it has been shown that when assessing the adolescent’s need for information and psychological assistance, it is advisable to focus not on the general dis tress score, but on the representation of difficulties associated with treatment, as well as on the adolescent’s own opinion about the presence of these needs. The inclusion in the Problem List of the distress scales of those subjectively significant difficulties that reflect the developmental characteristics of the patients and the specifics of the type of treatment, as well as the introduction of direct questions about the needs for information and psychological assistance, expands the possibilities of identifying adolescents in need of psychological support undergoing inpatient chemotherapy and facilitates their collaboration with the clinic’s multidisciplinary team of specialists.