Caring for a Child with Cancer: Experiences of Jordanian Mothers

Abstract

The diagnosis of childhood cancer is one of the most serious and unexpected experiences a mother can endure. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to explore the experiences of mothers of children diagnosed with cancer in Jordan. Themes that emerged include (1) Emotional response on knowing the diagnosis (feelings of shock, lack of preparedness, denial, and feelings of “paralysis”), (2) Fear of the dreaded disease (fear of suffering and fear of death), and (3) The challenges of the treatment journey (inadequate financial resources, role transition, and feeling socially isolated). This study describes the experiences of Jordanian mothers who care for their children diagnosed with cancer so that health care providers can develop strategies to provide adequate psychological support to these mothers.

Family Life Experiences in Caring for Children with Leukemia: A Literature Review

“…The studies were all conducted on parents who were taking care of children with leukemia, according to an analysis of ten articles that fit the criteria (Cornelio et al, 2016;Lambert et al, 2021;Pannier et al, 2019;Peikert et al, 2020;Pishkuhi et al, 2018;Raber et al, 2020;Shattnawi et al, 2021;Supriatin & Oktaviani, 2019;Van Schoors, De Paepe, et al, 2019;Verberne et al, 2019).…”

“…Although there are variations in how the age of the family (parents) and the children is classified, all reviews in this body of literature employ families (parents) that have pediatric leukemia patients as the subject of research. research carried out by (Shattnawi et al, 2021) parents using age > 20 years. Research (Lambert et al, 2021;Pannier et al, 2019;Peikert et al, 2020;Pishkuhi et al, 2018;Van Schoors, De Paepe, et al, 2019;Verberne et al, 2019) parents in the age spectrum 33-52 year.…”

A longitudinal evaluation on 3-year change of anxiety and depression, and their risk factors among parents of childhood and adolescence patients with resectable osteosarcoma: A cohort study

“…The possible explanations might be that the parents might face the challenge of the care process for childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma, including financial difficulties, patients' feeling of social isolation by their peers, and role transition; therefore, the anxiety and depression of the parents might continue to deteriorate. [24] In terms of the risk factors of anxiety and depression among parents of children with cancer, previous studies have reported that economic fragility, unemployment, parental fear of progression are correlated with elevated incidence of anxiety and depression among parents of children with blood cancer and central nervous system cancer. [19,21] In the current study, factors related to the risk of anxiety and depression among parents of childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma were explored, which presented that the role of the mother in parents' relation, divorced or widowed marital status of parents, higher Enneking stage of patients, amputation as surgery of patients were independently correlated with increased risk of anxiety, while elevated family annual income was independently correlated with declined risk of anxiety.…”

“…The possible explanations might be that the parents might face the challenge of the care process for childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma, including financial difficulties, patients’ feeling of social isolation by their peers, and role transition; therefore, the anxiety and depression of the parents might continue to deteriorate. [ 24 ]…”

“…[ 25 ] Childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma who had a higher Enneking stage might suffer more from the disease and at a high risk of mortality, which increased the risk of anxiety for their parents; thus, Enneking stage IIB (vs stage I) were independently correlated with an elevated risk of parents’ anxiety. [ 24 ] Parents of childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma who had elevated annual income might face less financial burden on subsequent care for patients, which could alleviate parents’ anxiety [ 9 ] ; thus, family annual income ranging from 30000 to 49999 CNY and > 50000 CNY were independently correlated with the declined risk of parents’ anxiety. Divorced or widowed marital status of parents might face more burdens such as financial difficulties and caregiving strain for childhood and adolescence patients with osteosarcoma, which could result in more likelihood of anxiety and depression among parents.…”