Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug;33(Suppl 1):S45-S51.
doi: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_72_24. Epub 2024 Aug 27.

Raising a child with cancer: Impact on parents' health-related quality of life

Mohammad Zeeshan  1 , Krishna Kumar Singh  1 , Niska Sinha  1 , Richa Madhawi  2 , Mohd Yasir Zubair  3 , Santosh Kumar  1
Affiliations

Raising a child with cancer: Impact on parents' health-related quality of life

Mohammad Zeeshan et al. Ind Psychiatry J. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Having a child with a serious illness like cancer has a detrimental and negative impact on the parents' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Many factors have been identified as being associated with poorer HRQOL. Acquiring knowledge about these factors is essential to enhancing the quality of life (QOL) of children as well as their parents.

Aim: This study aims to analyze HRQOL in parents of children with cancer and to explore relationships between parent and child variables and parental quality of life.

Materials and methods: A total of 80 parents of children with cancer were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. To evaluate the parental HRQOL, the Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) was used.

Results: Child age and time since diagnosis showed a positive correlation with all domains of HRQOL on Spearman's correlation. A statistically significant difference in SF-36 scores across four cancer groups was seen on the Kruskal-Wallis test. Mothers showed poorer quality of life in the physical role functioning domain as compared to fathers (U = 248, P < 0.01).

Conclusion: The present study shows poor HRQOL for parents of children with cancer, despite learning to cope and adjust over time. Parents of children with retinoblastoma demonstrate a poorer QOL as compared to other cancer groups. The study suggests close monitoring of parents' QOL and the provision of appropriate treatment and psychosocial support for parents along with the treatment of children.

Keywords: Cancer; HRQOL; SF-36; child; health-related quality of life; parents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. World Health Organization. World Health Organization; Cure All framework: WHO global initiative for childhood cancer: Increasing access, advancing quality, saving lives. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/347370.
    1. Steliarova-Foucher E, Colombet M, Ries LAG, Moreno F, Dolya A, Bray F, et al. International incidence of childhood cancer, 2001–10: A population-based registry study. Lancet Oncol. 2017;18:719–31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. International Agency for Research in Cancer. Global Cancer Observatory. Available from: http://gco.iarc.fr/
    1. Clinicopathological profile of cancers in India: A report of the hospital-based cancer registries. 2021. Available from: https://ncdirindia.org/All_Reports/HBCR_2021/Default.aspx.
    1. Sultan S, Leclair T, Rondeau É, Burns W, Abate C. A systematic review of factors and consequences of parental distress as related to childhood cancer. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl) 2016;25:616–37.. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources