Parents' adjustment to cancer in children

Barbara Jean Williams

Parents' adjustment to cancer in children

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Het doel van dit proefschrift is inzicht verwerven in de manier waarop ouders de diagnose en behandeling van kanker bij hun kind verwerken. De mate waarin ouders psychisch lijden en hun vermogen om met deze ervaring om te gaan wordt onderzocht door hun psychosociale aanpassing gedurende een periode van vijf jaar te vervolgen. De studieopzet is prospectief en longitudinaal met vier meetpunten: van tijdstip van diagnose tot vijf jaar na diagnose.
Ouders vulden vragenlijsten in over psychologische distress, symptomen en angst; coping; sociale steun; huwelijkse tevredenheid en communicatie binnen het huwelijk. Informatie over sociodemografische en ziekte gerelateerde variabelen werd ook gevraagd.
Op basis van onze bevindingen tekent zich het volgende beeld af: een groot deel van de ouders lijkt zich goed aan te passen aan het feit dat een van hun kinderen kanker heeft gehad. Echter, een significant groter percentage (27%) ouders dan in de normale populatie (15%) heeft last van psychische distress op klinisch verhoogd niveau vijf jaar na diagnose. De in deze studie onderzochte variabelen verklaarden het psychologisch functioneren van ouders vijf jaar na diagnose in beperkte mate. Vervolgonderzoek zou zich op andere dan deze factoren moeten richten, bijvoorbeeld op persoonlijkheidskenmerken en ’positive adaptive qualities’, zoals hoop en het beschikken over en ontwikkelen van veerkracht.
In de klinische praktijk zou het regelmatig screenen op psychische distress en zorgbehoefte van ouders nuttig kunnen zijn om tijdig die ouders op te sporen die mogelijk baat zullen hebben bij een psychosociale interventie en die daar ook voor openstaan.

Originele taal-2	English
Kwalificatie	Doctor of Philosophy
Toekennende instantie	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Begeleider(s)/adviseur	van de Wiel, Henricus, Supervisor Hoekstra - Weebers, Josephine, Supervisor
Datum van toekenning	27-nov.-2017
Plaats van publicatie	[Groningen]
Uitgever	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Gedrukte ISBN's	978-94-034-0251-2
Elektronische ISBN's	978-94-034-0250-5
Status	Published - 2017

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Title and contentsFinal publisher's version, 567 KB
Chapter 1Final publisher's version, 599 KB
Chapter 2Final publisher's version, 566 KB
Chapter 3Final publisher's version, 577 KB
Chapter 4Final publisher's version, 579 KB
Chapter 5Final publisher's version, 569 KB
Chapter 6Final publisher's version, 544 KB
Chapter 7Final publisher's version, 1,18 MB
Chapter 8Final publisher's version, 550 KB
Chapter 9Final publisher's version, 526 KB
Complete thesisFinal publisher's version, 1,7 MB
PropositionsFinal publisher's version, 412 KB

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title = "Parents' adjustment to cancer in children",

abstract = "The subject of this dissertation is understanding the way parents deal with cancer in their children. By examining the course of psychological distress over time and factors that contribute to parents{\textquoteright} adjustment we hope to better understand this process and gain more insight into parents{\textquoteright} ability to adjust. The study spans a time period of five years and has four measurement points (diagnosis and up to five years later). Parents filled in questionnaires on their general distress, anxiety, psychological complaints, coping, marital quality and communication between partners. Sociodemographic and illness-related information were also providedFindings suggest that even though most parents adjust well, at least one third of the parents show evidence of clinical distress five years after their child has been diagnosed with cancer, which is higher than the percentage found in the general population (15%). Although none of the factors we examined can explain parents{\textquoteright} adjustment sufficiently, some of these do show a small effect. These factors are: use of different coping styles; gender and health status of the children; social support; and marital satisfaction including communication styles. We speculate that other factors such as resilience or parents{\textquoteright} personality structure could also be relevant to understanding parental adjustment. Because a significant number of parents are distressed even after five years from diagnosis, we suggest that regular screening could help identify these persons at an earlier date and possibly prevent long term maladjustment.",

author = "Williams, {Barbara Jean}",

year = "2017",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-94-034-0251-2",

publisher = "Rijksuniversiteit Groningen",

school = "University of Groningen",

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T1 - Parents' adjustment to cancer in children

AU - Williams, Barbara Jean

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - The subject of this dissertation is understanding the way parents deal with cancer in their children. By examining the course of psychological distress over time and factors that contribute to parents’ adjustment we hope to better understand this process and gain more insight into parents’ ability to adjust. The study spans a time period of five years and has four measurement points (diagnosis and up to five years later). Parents filled in questionnaires on their general distress, anxiety, psychological complaints, coping, marital quality and communication between partners. Sociodemographic and illness-related information were also providedFindings suggest that even though most parents adjust well, at least one third of the parents show evidence of clinical distress five years after their child has been diagnosed with cancer, which is higher than the percentage found in the general population (15%). Although none of the factors we examined can explain parents’ adjustment sufficiently, some of these do show a small effect. These factors are: use of different coping styles; gender and health status of the children; social support; and marital satisfaction including communication styles. We speculate that other factors such as resilience or parents’ personality structure could also be relevant to understanding parental adjustment. Because a significant number of parents are distressed even after five years from diagnosis, we suggest that regular screening could help identify these persons at an earlier date and possibly prevent long term maladjustment.

AB - The subject of this dissertation is understanding the way parents deal with cancer in their children. By examining the course of psychological distress over time and factors that contribute to parents’ adjustment we hope to better understand this process and gain more insight into parents’ ability to adjust. The study spans a time period of five years and has four measurement points (diagnosis and up to five years later). Parents filled in questionnaires on their general distress, anxiety, psychological complaints, coping, marital quality and communication between partners. Sociodemographic and illness-related information were also providedFindings suggest that even though most parents adjust well, at least one third of the parents show evidence of clinical distress five years after their child has been diagnosed with cancer, which is higher than the percentage found in the general population (15%). Although none of the factors we examined can explain parents’ adjustment sufficiently, some of these do show a small effect. These factors are: use of different coping styles; gender and health status of the children; social support; and marital satisfaction including communication styles. We speculate that other factors such as resilience or parents’ personality structure could also be relevant to understanding parental adjustment. Because a significant number of parents are distressed even after five years from diagnosis, we suggest that regular screening could help identify these persons at an earlier date and possibly prevent long term maladjustment.

M3 - Thesis fully internal (DIV)

SN - 978-94-034-0251-2

PB - Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

CY - [Groningen]

ER -

Parents' adjustment to cancer in children

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