Post-traumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with cancer

Abstract

The news that a child is suffering from a life-threatening disease is considered to be an event that may cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in parents. It is believed that the symptoms of post-traumatic stress experienced may be an obstacle for parents to participate effectively in caring for a child with cancer, preventing the child from feeling safe and making it difficult for the child to be treated and healed. For the assessment of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) (Weis, Marmar, 1997). 44 fathers and 151 mothers (n = 195) participated in the study. It was found that 75.4 per cent of parents had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and the symptoms of invasion of parents raising children aged 12-17 are more pronounced than in those parents raising smaller children (p < 0.05). Parents caring for girls have more pronounced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder compared to parents raising sick boys (p < 0.05). The common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, invasion, and hypersensitivity symptoms among parents whose children have relapsed, are more pronounced than those of parents who did not experience relapse of the child’s disease (p < 0.001). Parents whose children have been subjected to bone marrow transplantation in the past have higher symptoms of invasion and increased irritability compared to parents whose children have been treated differently in the past (p < 0.001). The results show that the expression of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder is related to the age of a child (12-17 years), the female gender of a child, relapse of the child’s disease, and the bone marrow transplantation applied for a child in the past.. [...].