Fatigue among parents caring for a child with cancer

Introduction
Diagnosis of child cancer is a very difficult experience for parents, which can contribute to mental consequences. It is obvious that the parents’ well-being has an influence on psychical state of an ill child. The main aim of this work was to assess the prevalence of daily life fatigue in parents taking care of a child with cancer.

Material and methods
The study was performed in the Children’s University Hospital in Cracow-Oncology and Haematology Ward. The study group consisted of 80 parents of children oncologically treated. The criterion of parental selection was a period of six6 months after introduction of antineoplastic treatment in their children. The study used: the Daily Life Fatigue Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10), the Inventory to Measure Coping Strategies with Stress (Mini-COPE), and the author’s own survey questionnaire to collect demographic and social data.

Results
The sStudy has shown that parents of children oncologically treated exhibit signs of daily life fatigue. High level of stress and negative strategies of coping, such as denial, venting, behavioural disengagement, and self-blame, provide to experiencelead to higher levels of fatigue among parents. Additionally, high levels of fatigue occur among women, young parents, the unemployed, or those who quit work for in order to takeing care of an ill child.

Conclusions
Experiencing a high level of daily life fatigue and, stress, and choosing negative strategies of coping with stress prohibit positive perception of disease by ill children, what which can obstruct or even unable negate ensuring fully specialiszed anti-cancer treatment.