Psychiatric and Family Functioning in Children with Leukemia and Their Parents

Adjustment and coping by parents of children with cancer: a review of the literature

“…Sleep disturbances and feelings of depression remained higher against healthy controls at 8 months and 20 months after diagnosis in the studies of Magni et al [48,49], and depression and somatic symptoms were still higher 1 year after diagnosis [70]. A number of other studies report that parents are experiencing emotional problems 1 year after diagnosis; for example, a high percentage of mothers are diagnosed as overanxious [10] and fathers are diagnosed with major depression or increased feelings of depression [10,19]. Powazek et al [65] also report that families still experience high levels of stress 1 year after diagnosis.…”

“…A few investigators analysed within-group differences based on the treatment phase of the child. Brown et al [10] found that mothers of children who were off treatment had significantly lower depression scores than mothers of newly diagnosed children, and mothers of children 1 year after diagnosis. Morrow et al [57] also found that parents of children who were off treatment had the lowest scores on a measure investigating the psychological adjustment to the illness.…”

“…In general parents do experience marital distress, especially after the diagnosis [10,71], but no higher divorce rates have been found [34,41]. Two inventories have been used several times in studies with parents of children with cancer to assess marital problems, namely the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the LockeWallace Marital Adjustment Scale.…”

The family of a child with cancer - changes within the family system

“…More studies of Polish population are needed to verify this hypothesis. Research carried out in the United States of long-term survivors of childhood cancer has indicated adequate overall psychosocial adjustment, which suggests that most survivors of childhood cancer do well in terms of general psychological outcome (among others : Brown, et al, 1992;Spirito, et al, 1990;Kazak, et al, 1994). This may be considered as an indirect evidence of insignificant role of this problem in studied populations.…”

A Study of Psychopathology, Coping and Quality of Life in Parents of Children Diagnosed With Acute Leukaemia

“…A cross-sectional investigation by Brown [11] revealed coping strategies commonly used by children and their parents which include problem-solving, a positive outlook, and good communication. A study by Goldbeck [12] showed that the dominant coping styles used were problem-focused coping strategies in combination with optimistic basic attitude.…”