Parents' Emotional Reactions Related to Different Prospects for the Survival of Their Children with Cancer

Abstract

Thc emotional reactions and concerns of parcnts of children with canccr who had different prognoses for survival were investigated. Parents (84 mothers and 79 fathcrs) of 84 children with cancer who were in remission or had relapsed participated in the study. The mothers and fathers of childrcn who had relapsed reported morc feelings of helplessness and uncertainty and also reported their fears morc often concerning their child's chances o f survival than did the mothcrs and fathers of children whosc cancer was in remission. Mothers of children with a relapse also reported more depression and anxiety. The problems of fathers of children who had relapsed were rcvealed only with the use of an illncss-related questionnaire. Time since diagnosis did not changc the emotional reactions of any of the parents. The authors conclude that the parents of children whose cancer has relapsed should be carefully monitorcd. [Atlicle copies availahlc.for a fee fmm The Hauwrlh Docitmetrr Deliveni Service: 1

Health‐related quality of life in children and emotional reactions of parents following completion of cancer treatment

“…The higher the scores the more often parents experienced the emotional reactions. The validity and reliability turned out to be satisfactory in former studies [28]. The Cronbach alphas in the current study were also satisfactory, ranging from a ¼ 0.71 to a ¼ 0.85.…”

“…Effect sizes could not be calculated because the standard deviations of the mean scores among the norm group were not available. The mean items scores on the subscales of the SSERQ, computed for mother and fathers separately, were compared to the mean items scores of mothers and fathers of children who were off cancer treatment for 1-5 years [28]. One-sample t-tests were conducted and effect sizes were calculated.…”

“…Compared to parents whose children were 1-5 years after cancer treatment [28], the parents in our study turned out to suffer significantly more often from feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and uncertainty, mothers (T(120) ¼ 2.1, T(121) ¼ 3.1, T(121) ¼ 6.7) as well as fathers (T(108) ¼ 3.0, T(108) ¼ 8.5, T(108) ¼ 6.7). Moreover, the mothers reported less positive feelings on average 2 months after termination of treatment than the mothers a few years after that: T(120) ¼ À3.5.…”

Emotional functioning of parents of children with cancer: the first five years of continuous remission after the end of treatment

“…Parental situation-specific emotional reactions were assessed using the Situation-Specific Emotional Reaction Questionnaire (SSERQ) developed at the Psychosocial Department of the Emma Children's Hospital/AMC [27]. It consists of four scales, which describe feelings that can be considered situation-specific for parents of children with cancer, during and after treatment [27], namely disease-related feelings of loneliness, helplessness, uncertainty and positive feelings.…”

“…It consists of four scales, which describe feelings that can be considered situation-specific for parents of children with cancer, during and after treatment [27], namely disease-related feelings of loneliness, helplessness, uncertainty and positive feelings. The higher the scores, the more often parents experienced the emotional reactions in question.…”