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Impressions that last: Particularly negative and positive experiences reported by parents five years after the end of a child's successful cancer treatment or death
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Psychology in Healthcare. (Klinisk psykologi i hälso- och sjukvård)
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Psychology in Healthcare. (Klinisk psykologi i hälso- och sjukvård)
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Psychology in Healthcare. (Klinisk psykologi i hälso- och sjukvård)
Karolinska Inst, Div Psychol, Dept Clin Neurosci, Stockholm, Sweden.
Show others and affiliations
2016 (English)In: PLOS ONE, E-ISSN 1932-6203, Vol. 11, no 6, article id e0157076Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

OBJECTIVE: To describe the experience of parenting a child diagnosed with cancer by examining particularly negative and positive experiences reported by parents of childhood cancer survivors and parents of children lost to cancer.

METHODS: 168 parents (88 mothers, 80 fathers) participated. Data were collected five years after the end of successful treatment or the child's death. The parents' experiences were identified by open-ended semi-structured questions about particularly negative and positive experiences of the child's cancer. An inductive approach was used in which the manifest verbal content of the answers was analysed using content analysis.

RESULTS: The analysis revealed eight categories of negative experience (child late effects; distressing events; healthcare; impaired relationships; long-term psychological consequences; own reactions; surrounding institutions; the fact that the child got cancer) and seven categories of positive experience (healthcare; improved relationships; long-term consequences for the child; personal development; support systems; treatment outcome; unexpected joy). The categories were related to past events or to the present situation. The findings indicate variations in experiences between parents of survivors and bereaved parents, and between fathers and mothers, as some experiences were only reported by parents of survivors and some experiences were only reported by mothers.

CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the importance of past and present events to parents, and accordingly the long-lasting impact of paediatric cancer on parents. The results also point to the wide range of negative as well as positive experiences involved in parenting a child diagnosed with cancer, and provide a comprehensive understanding of the overall experience for parents of children with cancer. Specifically, the findings give guidance to healthcare providers by illustrating the need to provide healthcare personnel with continuous training in communication skills, offering parents opportunities to meet other parents in the same situation and increasing the access to psychosocial supportive services and psychological care.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2016. Vol. 11, no 6, article id e0157076
National Category
Applied Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-296022DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157076ISI: 000377561000061PubMedID: 27272318OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-296022DiVA, id: diva2:935862
Part of project
ParentsCan
Funder
Swedish Research Council, K2008-70X-20836-01- 3 K2011-70X-20836-04-4Swedish Cancer Society, 2007/1015 2010/726Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation, PROJ08/010Available from: 2016-06-13 Created: 2016-06-13 Last updated: 2023-04-03Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Parents of Children with Cancer: Psychological Long-Term Consequences and Development of a Psychological Treatment for Parents of Survivors
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Parents of Children with Cancer: Psychological Long-Term Consequences and Development of a Psychological Treatment for Parents of Survivors
2016 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The aims of this thesis were to increase the knowledge about the long-term psychological consequences in parents of children diagnosed with cancer, including parents of childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) and bereaved parents, and to take the first steps towards developing a psychological treatment for parents of CCSs.

Study I was a systematic review synthesizing the literature on psychological long-term consequences in parents of CCSs. Study II had a longitudinal design assessing posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) from shortly after the child’s diagnosis (T1, N=259) up to five years after end of the child’s treatment or death (T7, n=169). Study I and II concluded that while most parents show resilience in the long-term, a subgroup report high levels of general distress and/or PTSS. In Study III, interview data from the last assessment in the longitudinal project (T7, n=168) was used. Participants described particularly negative and/or positive experiences in relation to their child’s cancer, and results pointed to the wide range of such experiences involved in parenting a child with cancer. In Study IV and V, parents of CCSs reporting cancer-related psychological distress were included (N=15). In Study IV, a conceptualization of this distress was generated by aggregation of individual behavioral case formulations. The conceptualization consisted of two separate but overlapping paths describing development and maintenance of symptoms of traumatic stress and depressive symptoms. In Study V, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) based on the individual case formulations were preliminarily evaluated in an open trial. The CBT appeared feasible, and at post-assessment participants reported significant decreases in PTSS (p<.001), depression (p<.001), and anxiety (p<.01) with medium to large effect sizes (Cohen’s d=0.65-0.92).

Findings indicate that psychological long-term consequences in parents of children with cancer consist of a broad range of negative as well as positive experiences, and that while most parents show resilience in the long-term, a subgroup report high levels of psychological distress. For parents of CCSs this distress is suggested to primarily consist of symptoms of traumatic stress and depression, and a preliminary evaluation of CBT targeting hypothesized maintaining mechanisms showed promise in terms of feasibility and treatment effect.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2016. p. 65
Series
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine, ISSN 1651-6206 ; 1273
Keywords
Cancer and oncology, Children, Parents, Survivors, Cognitive behavior therapy, Posttraumatic stress symptoms, Depression, Positive psychological consequences
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Research subject
Medical Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-306309 (URN)978-91-554-9745-3 (ISBN)
Public defence
2016-12-16, Auditorium minus, Museum Gustavianum, Akademigatan 3, Uppsala, 09:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Projects
Behandling av traumatisk stress hos föräldrar till cancerdrabbade barn med kognitiv beteendeterapi via internetFörekomst, utveckling och behandling av posttraumatiskt stressymptom hos föräldrar till barn med cancerUtveckling och utvärdering av ett webbaserat psykologiskt självhjälpsprogram för föräldrar till barn som tidigare behandlats mot cancer
Funder
Swedish Research Council, K2011-70X-20836-04-4Swedish Research Council, K2008-70X-20836-01-3
Available from: 2016-11-24 Created: 2016-10-27 Last updated: 2019-08-26

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