Fathers' Perspectives on the Treatment for Pediatric Hematology: Extending the Findings

Abstract

There is scant research available about how fathers cope with their children receiving difficult treatment protocols for diseases such as childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The present discussion contributes to this area with findings on the paternal experience of treatment for pediatric ALL collected from the families in a longitudinal study conducted at Royal Children's Hospital and the Mater Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland. These findings emphasize the emotional shock and pain fathers experience in the early stages of the treatment process for children with leukemia. Their emotional responses run the gamut from engagement in the treatment process to withdrawal, from crying to taking "time out" to experiencing and expressing anger at their (and their child's) fate. In dealing with their child's illness over time fathers struggle with accepting the situation and attempting to restore some semblance of normality to their own and their families' lives.

Care provided by the father to the child with cancer under the influence of masculinities: qualitative meta-synthesis

“…The final sample consisted of 16 studies (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) . As shown in Chart 1, the articles were published between 2001 and 2013 in six different countries: Australia (N=4), the United States (N=4), Canada (N=4), Brazil (N=2), China (N=1) and Ireland (N=1).…”

“…Was the recruitment strategy appropriate to the aims of the research? 2 (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32) 10 (21,23,(25)(26)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) 4 (24,(27)(28)36) 5. Was the data collected in a way that addressed the research issue?…”

“…Has the relationship between researcher and participants been adequately considered? 0 2 (32)(33)(34) 14 (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)33,(35)(36) 7. Have ethical issues been taken into consideration?…”

“…Was the research design appropriate to address the aims of the research? 12 (23)(24)(25)(26)(28)(29)(30)(31)(33)(34)(35) 4 (22,27,32,36) 0 4. Was the recruitment strategy appropriate to the aims of the research?…”

When a parent has cancer: An examination of the lived experience of adult children living at home

“…These few investigations have focused predominantly on the impact of cancer on parents whose offspring have cancer (Goldbeck, 2001;McGrath & Chesler, 2004), the impact of parental cancer on children and adolescents (Harris & Zakowsky, 2003;Lewis, Hammond, & Woods, 1992;Osborn, 2007), and overwhelmingly on spouses of cancer patients (Case, 2004 For example, Welch, Wadsworth, and Compass (1996) examined the impact of a parental cancer diagnosis on children and adolescents. The authors found that while parents did not perceive any distress in their children (6 to 10 year olds) and adolescents (11-18 year olds) following the diagnosis, adolescents and children scored high in anxiety/depression and aggression measures.…”