Fathers’ Experiences of Childhood Cancer: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study

Abstract

Research has shown differences in how fathers and mothers respond to a child’s cancer diagnosis. Previous studies have highlighted that sociocultural norm shape fathers’ experiences of their child’s cancer diagnosis. Our phenomenological qualitative study aimed to examine the lived experiences of fathers whose children have been diagnosed with cancer and explore the impact of sociocultural gender roles. Fathers whose children were currently receiving treatment or had completed treatment in the previous 15 months were recruited from across Australia. Twenty-one fathers were interviewed. Five themes were identified: (a) Your world falls apart: Diagnosis and treatment; (b) Care for the child: Just the way it is; (c) Keeping strong: Finding ways to cope; (d) Employment: Practical and emotional support at work; and (e) Guilt, relief, and grief: Facing death. This study demonstrates the profound impact of a child’s diagnosis on fathers and demonstrates that societal–cultural norms influence fathers’ experience of childhood cancer.

Exploring grandparents' psychosocial responses to childhood cancer: A qualitative study

“…Grandparents in our sample suffered greatly, especially in the first few months after diagnosis. Consistent with previous findings, 4 their great suffering underscores the emotional closeness of grandparents to the sick child and the whole family.…”

“…We were able to identify several aspects exclusive to grandparents' experiences. In the literature, grandparents' concern was sometimes referred to as “double concern/whammy’ 4,15,24 , “triple concern/pain”, 5,8 or “multiple concern/suffering” 13 . Our findings support the term 'multiple concern', because grandparents were concerned about many people around them (sick grandchild, healthy grandchildren, children, own parents, spouse, and also themselves).…”

“…It was particularly interesting that several grandparents still had living parents, who were very old, and therefore grandparents wanted to protect them from bad news. In a recent study, grandparents described the same phenomenon (‘Sandwich generation’), mentioning that fulfilling the various caregiving roles can be emotionally and physically exhausting 4 …”

“…Their overall quality of life is lower than in comparison groups 1–3 . A recent study showed that grandparents experience many of the same stressors as the child's parents, 4 such as balancing work and childcare, underscoring their important role in the family and their emotional closeness to the child. Grandparents worry about their sick grandchild, but also about the parents and, if present, healthy siblings.…”

Grandparents’ Experiences of Childhood Cancer: A Qualitative Study

“…This aligns with previous reports that grandparents described childhood cancer as one of the worst experiences when compared with other life events ( Charlebois & Bouchard, 2007 ; Moules et al, 2012a ). Despite not being the primary carer of their GDWC, grandparents experienced many emotions that were like those experienced by parents, including feeling devastated and having trouble accepting the diagnosis ( Davies et al, 2023 ; Kahriman et al, 2020 ; West et al, 2015 ). The grandparents in our study played an important role in helping to provide care for the GDWC, including assisting with care on the ward.…”