The trajectory of the caring role in Korea: A grounded theory study of mothers of children with blood cancer

Comparison of perceived parental empathy between adolescents with leukemia and healthy adolescents: A comparative descriptive study

“…In particular, mothers of children with leukemia have been shown to have anxious and fearful feelings about disease-related treatment, survival, relapse, death, and the future. These feelings lead mothers to overprotect their children and to react sensitively to behaviors that are normal in adolescence [ 3 ]. As evidenced in the results of this study and previous research, parents caring for children with chronic illness tend to promote the safety of their children and take on more indulgent, protective, intrusive caregiving roles [ 18 ].…”

“…Parents caring for children with leukemia have an enormous responsibility to protect their children and provide additional support because of the physical difficulties related to their illness [ 28 ]. Naturally, parents of children with blood cancer are continuously anxious about treatment outcomes and prognosis [ 3 ], coupled with feelings of guilt and distress while taking care of their children struggling with cancer [ 28 ]. Considering that empathy is difficult to retain when problematic situations occur in parent-child relationships [ 29 ], it is understandable that the unique burdens and anxieties of parents of adolescents with leukemia may lead the parents to present apathetic and/or excessive emotional reactions.…”

“…According to International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC) standards, leukemia accounts for approximately 30 % of childhood cancers, and the incidence of leukemia in patients aged 0–14 years in Korea as of 2019 was approximately 49 per 1 million people [ 2 ]. In the early stages of diagnosis, many patients and parents feel hopeless and fearful about survival [ 3 ]. With the development of improved diagnosis and treatment techniques, however, the five-year survival rate of children with leukemia in Korea and Japan has reached 85 % and is as high as 90 % in the UK and United States [ 4 ].…”