Risk Factors for Psychological Maladjustment of Parents of Children With Cancer

Hoekstra-Weebers, Josette E. H. M.; Jaspers, Jan; Kamps, Willem A.; Klip, Ed C.

doi:10.1097/00004583-199912000-00014

Cited by 80 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Other interesting aspects indicative of parental emotional (mal)adjustment, such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, could also be taken into account [6,22,[46][47][48]. Secondly, we assessed neither previous parental emotional functioning (such as a history of psychiatric problems) nor socio-economic variables (such as income and employment)}factors that have been shown in previous studies to have an impact on parental functioning [14,17]. Intrapersonal factors such as personality and temperament may also affect adjustment [63].…”

Section: Limitations and Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research revealed highly diverse demographic and medical variables that were predictive of parental maladjustment to the cancer experience [14], among others: being a mother, low socioeconomic status, recurrence of the disease in the child and worse health status of the child [5,[15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research revealed that parents who were optimistic about the further course of their child's disease reported fewer emotional problems [16]. Others reported that higher scores for the 'social support-seeking' generic coping style resulted in lower distress levels one year after the diagnosis of cancer [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2007

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Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate parental emotional functioning during the first five years of continuous remission after the end of their child's treatment and to identify predictors of parental emotional functioning.Methods: Psychological distress and situation-specific emotional reactions were assessed in 122 mothers and 109 fathers from 130 families. Longitudinal mixed model analyses were performed to investigate to what extent generic and disease-related coping, family functioning and social support were predictive of parental emotional functioning over time.Results: Initial elevated levels of distress, disease-related feelings of uncertainty and helplessness returned to normal levels during the first two years after the end of treatment. Being more optimistic about the further course of the child's disease (predictive control) was correlated with lower psychological distress and less negative disease-related feelings, while more passive reaction patterns were correlated with higher psychological distress and more negative disease-related feelings.Conclusions: Although in general the parents of children with successfully treated cancer showed adequate emotional resilience, support for these parents should not stop when treatment ends. Parents in need of help can be identified on the basis of their coping abilities.

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Section: Limitations and Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

2007

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“…Although most parents show remarkable resilience over time, for a subgroup of parents, levels of psychological distress remain high throughout the entire treatment period and thereafter [1][2][3][4][5]. Heightened levels of depression [6,7], anxiety [8][9][10][11], stress [10,12], a decreased quality of life [13], marital distress [14,15] and post-traumatic stress symptoms (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychometric qualities of the Dutch version of the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP): a multi‐center study

et al. 2010

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Egeler, R. M. (2010). Psychometric qualities of the Dutch version of the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP): a multi-center study. Psycho-oncology, 19(4), 368-375. DOI: 10.1002/pon.1571 Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. AbstractObjectives: Diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer are continuous stressors in the lives of the entire family involved. Disease-related tools for the assessment of parental stress and adaptation are scarce. For that reason, the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP), a diseaserelated measure, was translated into Dutch and its psychometric qualities were determined to prove its value. Methods: The PIP and three other measures (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, General Health Questionnaire and Parenting Stress Index, Short Form) were administered to 174 parents of 107 children diagnosed with cancer in three university medical centers in the Netherlands.Results: Internal consistency (Crohnbach's a 5 0.94 and 0.95) and test-retest reliability (Pearson's r between 0.67 and 0.87) of the Dutch PIP total scales are satisfactory. Validity was illustrated by a high correlation between PIP-scores and anxiety and general stress. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable fit to the data for the original four-factor and the one-factor models; the four-factor model showed slightly better fit.Conclusion: The PIP can be used in clinical practice to assess disease-related parental stress. Further psychometric testing is highly recommended.

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“…Previous studies have shown that diagnosis and treatment of cancer in a child is associated with anxiety, stress, somatic complaints, marital difficulties, and poor adjustment in parents and families. [12][13][14][15][16][17] These parents were studied immediately after the child's diagnosis and again 3 months later, and compared to parents with healthy children. We hypothesized that parents with children with cancer would report more distress, more calories consumed, and less physical activity and that they would exhibit greater weight change over the 3-month follow-up.…”

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confidence: 99%

Stress and weight gain in parents of cancer patients

2005

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OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of chronic stress on weight changes and related behavioral changes in parents with a child who had just been diagnosed with cancer compared to parents with healthy children. DESIGN: Longitudinal case-control study with assessments occurring over a three-month period following the child's diagnosis of cancer. SUBJECTS: In total, 49 parents of healthy children and 49 parents of cancer patients aged 19-58 y. MEASUREMENTS: Body weight, diet, physical activity, self-reported mood and stress. RESULTS: Parents of cancer patients were more likely to gain weight, and experienced significantly greater weight gain over the 3 months than parents of healthy children. The magnitude of weight gain was related to the degree of psychological distress that the parents experienced. Parents of cancer patients reported lower levels of physical activity and lower caloric intake than parents of healthy children, with the most marked differences between groups occurring in the area of physical activity. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that a major stressor, such as a child's diagnosis of cancer, is associated with weight gain. Further research is needed to determine how long these weight gains persist and whether other types of stress also produce weight gains. Such studies should focus not only on the effect of stress on eating behavior but also on physical activity.

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Risk Factors for Psychological Maladjustment of Parents of Children With Cancer

Cited by 80 publications

References 23 publications

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

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

Psychometric qualities of the Dutch version of the Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP): a multi‐center study

Stress and weight gain in parents of cancer patients

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