The Balancing Act: Mothers’ Experiences of Providing Care to Their Children With Cancer

Abstract

The effect of pediatric cancer and its treatment are overwhelming-these effects are multifaceted and felt by the entire family unit throughout the diagnosis and treatment process. Children experience a plethora of effects as a result of the treatment process; however, it is imperative to remember that a pediatric cancer diagnosis affects parents physically, emotionally, and psychologically as well. While much of the pediatric cancer treatment occurs at the hospital or in clinics, parents are often faced with additional caregiving responsibilities at home, and in many cases, it is mothers who provide care to their children, while also attempting to care for the siblings of their ill children. This secondary data analysis examines the caregiving responsibilities of mothers from Southern Ontario, Canada, during the time from diagnosis to after their children's pediatric cancer treatment. Three subthemes emerged from the overall theme of caregiving: (1) "We tried to do as much as we could outside of the clinic," (2) "I had to be there for everything," and (3) "Most of the time we relied on other people." Each will be discussed in turn. The findings from this work provides insight to health care professionals on how to create or improve the current supports and resources provided to caregivers of children with cancer.

The Childhood Cancer Centre Is Coming Home: Experiences of Hospital-Based Home Care

“…Sometimes they had to wait for the healthcare professionals from the hospital and felt that it would have been easier to go to the hospital instead. This is in line with the findings of Molinaro and Fletcher [ 32 ] who revealed that parents need to reprioritize their time in order to adapt to the new situation. They found it difficult to juggle the demands of life.…”

A Balancing Act: Working and Caring for a Child with Cancer

“…In the existing studies, parents of children with cancer have reported difficulties in combining work with caring for the ill child, as well as for others in the family, due to significant disruptions in the everyday life (Granek et al, 2012;Long & Marsland, 2011;Molinaro & Fletcher, 2018;Peikert et al, 2020;Wakefield et al, 2014). Parents of children with cancer have to reorganize roles and responsibilities for childcare and work, with mothers often taking primary responsibility of the ill child (Clarke et al, 2009;Long & Marsland, 2011;Molinaro & Fletcher, 2018). The most pronounced changes in role reorganization usually takes place during the initial stages of diagnosis and early treatment (Long & Marsland, 2011), although difficulties in managing the increased caregiving demands may last longterm (Peikert et al, 2020).…”

“…Still, to gain increased understanding of the impact of childhood cancer on family life, studies that explore parents' experiences of the challenges related to work and family are needed. With this study, we wanted to capture the experiences that are more commonly shared by parents of children with cancer, without restricting the research to, for example, mothers (Molinaro & Fletcher, 2018), single parents (Granek et al, 2012) or parents of survivors (Peikert et al, 2020).…”

Saúde mental de cuidadores de crianças e adolescentes com neoplasia maligna no Nordeste do Brasil

“…Na Colômbia, a incidência aumentou entre 2002 e 2006, resultando em 70.877 novos casos no período (PALACIO C, et al, 2018). A Indonésia alcançou uma progressão anual de 7%, com 16.291 casos (AZIZA YDA, et al, 2019). No Brasil, de 2016 a 2017, foi estimado em 12.600 novos casos nessa faixa etária (ABDOLJABBARI M, et al, 2018;MEDEIROS EGMS, et al, 2019).…”