Losing Her: Children's Reported Concerns in the First 6 Months of Their Mother's Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

Background: Maternal breast cancer has a significant impact on the well being of school-aged children but we know very little about the concerns these children attribute to their mother's illness. Objective:To describe child-reported illness-related concerns experienced in the initial 6 months of their mother's diagnosis and to identify any differences by age and gender of the child.Methods: Data were obtained from 140 school-aged children (7-12 years) within 6 months of their mother diagnosis with Stage 0-III breast cancer. Children's written responses to an openended question were analyzed, "Think about a situation that has bothered you during the last month that had to do with your mom's breast cancer." Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data using methods adapted from grounded theory. Trustworthiness of results was protected by coding to consensus, formal peer debriefing, and maintaining an audit trail.Results: Losing Her, the core construct, was identified and organized the children's concerns in 4 domains: (1) her being away from me; (2) worrying about her; (3) seeing my mother be different; and (4) changing how things work. Conclusion:All children reported illness-related concerns about which they were bothered. Even seemingly short-term treatment-related absences from the child were interpreted as difficult.Implication for Practice: Findings from the current study add to nurses' awareness and knowledge about the concerns of school-aged children during their mother's initial treatment for breast cancer. Nurses are in a key position to provide services directly to the child or through the mother. BACKGROUNDBreast cancer is the leading type of cancer among women in the United States in terms of both new cancer cases and deaths. 1 In 2018, an estimated 330,100 women will be diagnosed with invasive or in situ breast cancer and 22 percent of them will be mothers of minor

Love, Fear, and Hope: Personal Coping Techniques of a Realistic yet Optimistic Daughter

“…Maternal breast cancer has been shown to have a significant impact on the well-being of children (Almulla & Lewis, 2020). Davey et al (2005) stated that women and girls whose mothers had breast cancer were the most significantly distressed; their findings validated my feelings of anguish.…”

“…Often time people do not realize and appreciate people until they are gone so utilizing the spirit of appreciation can serve as a healthy way to manage the coping process. Much of the literature reveals the long-term effects of loss and the significant impact loss has on the well-being of the adult children and children alike (Almulla & Lewis, 2020) yet appreciation lends itself to be a new finding within coping skills. Allowing yourself to appreciate someone for all that they offer to your life and embracing them while they are still present allows for you to bond and be thankful for the time.…”

“…"The most difficult part emotionally is knowing that there is no cure and just hoping that she will last years, I have to take it a day at a time" (Participant M, 2019). The literature was clear that the fear comes from the unknown and children's need to control something much larger than themselves (Almulla & Lewis, 2020). As I navigated between fear and hope I created the following analogy to explain how I constantly felt: In life, we all have an invisible clock above our head with the time that our day stops; however, when someone is sick it, seems like this clock is now visible and counting down quickly.…”

Application of Public Health Precautionary Guidelines Before Contracting COVID-19: Lessons Learned from a Qualitative Descriptive Study

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Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Children's Illness-Related Concerns Scale

“…The construct of a child's illness-related concern attributed to maternal cancer is defined conceptually as “the actual and potential issues, thoughts, or feelings that the child explicitly attributes to the mother's illness” (Almulla & Lewis, 2020, p. 2). A scoping review was conducted to map all the domains of concern in research published between 1993 and 2022.…”