Indicators of posttraumatic stress in parents of children finishing cancer treatment – the role of medical care, social support and resiliency

Introduction: Child’s cancer is a particular kind of crisis – it’s very challenging for the parents because they not only need to cope with their own emotions (fright, anger, hopelessness, guiltiness) and keep the whole family functioning (provide a family and take care of other children) but primarily they need to care about a child with cancer and be a support during long and difficult cancer treatment. There is a lot of research that demonstrate high level of parenting stress and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after cancer treatment is finished.

Aim: The aim of the study is to extract the predictors of PTSS in a group of parents of children who have finished cancer treatment and become patients of children’s oncology clinic.

Material and methods: Fifty-two parents of 12 to 20 years old children participated in a study. The indicators of posttraumatic stress was measured by using Impact Event Scale (adapted to polish version by Juczyński), social suport – by modified version of Social Support Questionaire by Sommer and Fydrich (adapted to polish version by Juczyński) and a self-administered questionnaire was used to assess a quality of a medical care. In this analysis social-demographic variables and medical assessment of a course of a cancer disease were also taken into consideration.

Results: The research confirmed a risk of PTSS in a group of parents of children with cancer (the risk is especially high in a group of mothers) and let extract the predictors of posttraumatic stress. Among the variables, statistically significant were variables associated with a family situation, including father’s education level. Among the personal variables significant for a PTSS risk was one of the resiliency factors – personal skills to cope and tolerance to negative emotions.