When a Child Is Diagnosed with Cancer

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between coping strategies and self-reports of psychological adjustment in parents of children with cancer. The experimental group consisted of 17 sets of parents who had a child in varying stages of active treatment for cancer. The control group consisted of 32 sets of parents whose child had the flu. All parents completed a demographic questionnaire, the Coping Strategies Inventory, The Social Support Questionnaire, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Parents in the experimental group also rated their satisfaction with medical staff, and medical staff, in turn, rated the parents' coping styles and their appropriateness. Contrary to the results of other studies, higher medical staff ratings of parental adjustment were correlated with more years of parental education, whereas these ratings were not related to parental financial status. Among the controls, engaged coping was related to less anxiety and depression and greater marital satisfaction; his relationship was not observed in the experimental group. Disengaged coping was related to greater levels of maladjustment for parents in both groups.