Costs of caring for a child with cancer: a questionnaire survey

Abstract

Although families are offered timely information about their entitlement to benefits, financial problems are incurred by families of a child with cancer partly because legislation prevents benefits being claimed for the first 3 months of a child's illness - the time when expenses are still at their highest. Furthermore, because benefits are backdated only to the point at which the claim was made, families do not recoup all their costs. Waiving of the 84-day wait period for children undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the introduction of weekly bridging payments while a Disability Living Allowance claim is being assessed, would ameliorate this problem and so improve the treatment experience for families.

Parents of children diagnosed with cancer: work situation and sick leave, a five-year post end-of-treatment or a child’s death follow-up study

“…The non-significant gender differences in this study are of interest since previous studies with shorter follow-up periods have reported differences between mothers and fathers [6][7][8]. With a long-term perspective applied, no such differences were observed.…”

“…A substantial number of parents of children diagnosed with cancer experience significant occupational and financial consequences including employment and income loss, affected work ability, reduced work hours, and sick leave, both during and after treatment completion [3,4]. The impact on parental income, employment and sick leave is greatest during treatment and the effect on employment and earnings is greater among mothers than fathers [3,[5][6][7][8]. There is a lack of longitudinal studies with long-term follow-up on the impact of childhood cancer on parents' work situation.…”

Unmeasured Costs of a Child's Death: Perceived Financial Burden, Work Disruptions, and Economic Coping Strategies Used by American and Australian Families Who Lost Children to Cancer

“…1 Financial concerns have been identified as a major stressor for families of children receiving cancer treatment across a wide range of health systems, benefit models, and economic climates. [2][3][4][5][6] The financial burden on families whose children die has been less well elucidated.…”

Characterization of the hospitalization of children and adolescents with cancer

“…can have their access to this tertiary health service facilitated whereas those coming from intermediate and far cities face difficulty accessing care and not return to the service with the ideal frequency due to the distance (6) and financial difficulties (19) , which may interfere on the …”