Parental fears following their child's brain tumor diagnosis and treatment.

• The objective of this study is to portray the illness-related threats experienced by parents of children after the diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) tumor. Parents were asked to rate the extent to which they experienced a set of specific fears related to their child's brain tumor and its treatment. Outcomes for parents of CNS tumor patients (n = 82) were compared with those of reference parents of patients treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 208). The fears about an illness recurrence and the late effects of treatment were most prominent among parents of CNS tumor patients. For 7 out of 11 kinds of fear, parents of CNS tumor patients expressed a stronger fear than the reference group. More than a quarter of the parents of children treated for CNS tumors feared a complete decline of the child. Parents of CNS tumor patients experience relatively heightened cancer related fears in several domains. The fear of devastating consequences felt by one fourth of parents signals the need of individualized psychological support and information at diagnosis and follow-up to facilitate parental coping with the posttreatment situation.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Cell- och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Cell and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Cancer och onkologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Cancer and Oncology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Adolescent

Adult

Brain Neoplasms

diagnosis

psychology

Child

Child

Preschool

Cross-Sectional Studies

Fear

Humans

Infant

Infant

Newborn

Parents

psychology

childhood cancer

Psykologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)