When a parent has cancer: challenges to patients, their families and health providers

Abstract

At least 14% of cancer patients live with minor children. Being a parent with cancer has far-reaching consequences for individual treatment decision-making and quality of life in patients and their families. Even though the majority of children and adolescents do not show clinically relevant symptoms of psychopathology, worries about the survival of the parent and the future development of the family are present, and experienced as distressing, in most children. Open communication by parents and clinicians has been found to be of major importance for children and adolescents in adjusting to parental cancer. Support for parents with cancer on relevant parenting issues, starting in the diagnostic phase, should be acknowledged as an important facet of cancer care to reduce the psychosocial burden for cancer patients and their families.

Keywords::

• children
• coping
• emotional and psychological functioning
• parental cancer
• psychosocial burden

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Emily Bauske and Kerstin Scheunemann for their assistance with editing the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.