Abstract :
[en] The aim of the study was to assess the degree of similarity between the distress expressed by parents of a child cancer survivor and the distress perceived by the oncologist. Overall, 61 parents of a child cancer survivor (between 4 and 6 years of cancer remission) were recruited in Belgian hos- pitals (Province of Liège). Parents filled out questionnaires about the intolerance of uncertainty (IUS), positive beliefs about worry (WW-II), parental worries about the evolution of their child’s health (QIPS-R15), problem orientation (NPOQ), cognitive avoidance (CAQ), ruminations (Mini-CERTS), and anxiety/depression (HADS). Eight oncologists who having taken care of the child filled out the « OncoMed » question- naire that examines their perception of the parental distress (e.g. anxiety, worries). Parents suffered from anxiety, worries about their child’s health and showed a low level of tolerance of uncertainty. Overall, oncologists demonstrated a low per- ceived distress compared to the level of parental distress. The study highlights the need to detect early parents who are intolerant of uncertainty in order to offer them an efficient psychological follow-up. This study underlines finally the necessity to develop medical perception tools about the dis- tress in order to strengthen the medical communication and the follow-up of these families.
Scopus citations®
without self-citations
0