Psychosocial problems in families of children with cancer

Rajajee, Sarala; Ezhilarasi, S.; Indumathi, D.

doi:10.1007/s12098-007-0149-0

Cited by 21 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…This strategy could be explained by consideration of how important the religious and spiritual dimension is in Portugal and how it may affect the maternal representation of a child’s health/disease, and the mother’s efforts to adjust whatever the disease is. Therefore, as some previous studies of the field stated, 5,36 it is possible to claim that the belief in God, in any form of spirituality, would seem to help Portuguese mothers remove their negative thoughts in favor of positive thinking.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Maternal Coping Strategies in Response to a Child’s Chronic and Oncological Disease: A Cross-Cultural Study in Italy and Portugal

et al. 2013

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A child’s oncological or chronic disease is a stressful situation for parents. This stress may make it difficult for appropriate management strategies aimed at promoting the child’s wellbeing and helping him or her cope with a disease to be adopted. In particular, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable national cultural influences and the parental strategies used to cope with a child’s severe disease by comparing the experiences of Italian and Portuguese mothers. The study investigates differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of children with oncological or chronic disease. Two groups of mothers took part: 59 Italian mothers (average age 37.7 years; SD=4.5) and 36 Portuguese mothers (average age 39.3 years; SD=4.6). The tool used was the Italian and the Portuguese versions of the COPE inventory that measures five coping strategies: Social Support, Avoidance Coping, Positive Aptitude, Religious Faith and Humor, Active Coping. There were statistically significant differences between Portuguese and Italian mothers regarding Social Support (F(3, 94)=6.32, P=0.014, ɳ2=0.065), Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94)=20.06, P=0.001, ɳ2=0.18, higher values for Portuguese mothers) and Avoidance Coping (F(3, 94)=3.30, P=0.06, ɳ2=0.035, higher values for Italian mothers). Regarding child’s disease, the only statistically significant difference was in Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94)=7.49, P=0.007, ɳ2=0.076, higher values for mothers of children with chronic disease). The findings of specific cultural transversalities provide the basis for reflection on important factors emerging on the relationship between physicians and parents. In fact, mothers’ coping abilities may allow health workers involved in a child’s care not only to understand how parents face a distressful event, but also to provide them with professional support.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Maternal Coping Strategies in Response to a Child’s Chronic and Oncological Disease: A Cross-Cultural Study in Italy and Portugal

et al. 2013

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“…It [2,12], as well as the perception of family support and cohesion [13,14] [15]; -the avoidance, as the negation (within limited time) of the situation or as mental detachment [16]; -the positive aptitude, as the acceptation of the situation and positive reinterpretation of the event leading to optimistic aptitude [7,17,18]; -the orientation toward problem, as the skill of eliminating distractive activity to enhance the management of the situation and develop empowerment to control the situation; -the transcendent orientation as request for help and seeking solace in faith or spirituality, which may convey positive thoughts and self-confidence [19,20]. [9].…”

Section: Display How Tumor Diagnoses Of Children Such As the Acute Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functioning of Family System in Pediatric Oncology During Treatment Phase

Perricone¹,

Polizzi²,

Morales³

et al. 2012

Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

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“…Parents have been found to be psychologically affected by their child’s diagnosis, time since diagnosis, side effects of the treatment and child’s health status [10]. Additionally, parents have reported burden in their employment and financial status [21-24], their family relationships [8], caring for the other children [19] and they feel guilty sometimes [18,25]. Although these stressors were found to affect mothers and fathers parenting children with cancer, mother and fathers were found to have different levels of perceived stress [26,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental stress when caring for a child with cancer in Jordan: a cross-sectional survey

Masa’Deh

Collier

Hall

2012

Health Qual Life Outcomes

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BackgroundMost studies report that being parents of a child with cancer is a stressful experience, but these have tended to focus on mothers and few have included both parents. Moreover, studies have focussed on families in Western countries and none have been published examining the psychological outcomes for parents living in an Arabic country.This research explores the stress levels of Jordanian parents caring for a child with cancer in order to identify the psychological needs of parents in this environment and to explore how mothers and fathers stress levels might differ.MethodsThe study was carried out in Jordan using the Perceived Stress Scale 10-items (PSS10). The questionnaire was completed by 300 couples with a child who has cancer and a comparison group of 528 couples where the children do not have any serious illness. Multivariate backward regression analysis was carried out.ResultsAnalysis adjusting for spousal stress and sociodemographic predictors revealed that stress levels of mothers with a child who had cancer remained significantly higher than mothers whose children did not have any serious illness (p < 0.001). However, having a child with cancer did not show a significant association with the fathers’ reported stress scores (p = 0.476) when spousal stress was in the model, but was highly significant once that was removed (p < 0.001).Parental stress was analysed for those with a child who has cancer and in models which included spouse’s stress scores, sociodemographic and cancer-related predictors 64 % of the variance was explained for mothers (adjusted R2 = 0.64, p < 0.001) and fathers (adjusted R2 = 0.64, p < 0.001). Models excluding spousal stress scores explained just 26 % of the variance for fathers and 22 % for mothers.ConclusionsThis is the first study into the psychological outcomes for parents living in an Arabic country who care for a child with cancer. Both mothers and fathers with a child diagnosed with cancer reported higher stress levels than those from the normal Jordanian parent population. Mothers and fathers of children with cancer reported significantly different levels of stress to each other but models reveal significant contributions of the stress score of fathers upon mothers, and vice versa. The findings provide evidence of the need for psychological support to be developed for families caring for a child with cancer in Jordan.

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Psychosocial problems in families of children with cancer

Abstract: The family structure was the foundation for emotional and psychological security. Psychological support by professional tumour support group would enhance this.

Cited by 21 publications

References 6 publications

Maternal Coping Strategies in Response to a Child’s Chronic and Oncological Disease: A Cross-Cultural Study in Italy and Portugal

Maternal Coping Strategies in Response to a Child’s Chronic and Oncological Disease: A Cross-Cultural Study in Italy and Portugal

Functioning of Family System in Pediatric Oncology During Treatment Phase

Parental stress when caring for a child with cancer in Jordan: a cross-sectional survey

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