Assessment of intensity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with blood cancer at different time points following diagnosis

Abstract

In the recent years, there has been a remarkable progress in treatment of cancer in children. Nevertheless, it still remains a disease that represents a real threat to a child’s life. This threat as well as a deep fear for a child’s life which is strongly associated with it have a key impact on psychological difficulties experienced by parents at the time of establishing their child’s diagnosis and throughout therapy. Aim: The study was focused on assessment of the dynamics of posttraumatic symptoms intensity in parents of children suffering from blood cancers depending on a period of time that passed since the moment the disease was diagnosed. Materials and methods: A prospective study model was applied – the parents were assessed at three time points, i.e. up to one month (t1), six months (t2) and one year (t3) following their child’s diagnosis. The study included 47 parents of children diagnosed with leukaemia or lymphoma. The number of the subjects taking part in successive measurements was 32 (t2) and 31 (t3), respectively. The Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) was used to assess severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the parents. Results: Severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the parents decreased within one year following their child’s diagnosis. An analysis of intensity of particular dimensions of posttraumatic stress at the successive time points revealed their variability. The level of symptoms related to avoidance did not decrease significantly in the period between one and six months following the diagnosis, or between six months and one year following the diagnosis. Conclusions: The study results provide grounds for putting forward of recommendations concerning diagnostic and therapeutic measures. At the time of diagnosis, parents should be provided with special psychological intervention, whereas, at next stages of a child’s treatment, therapists should focus their attention mostly on avoidance symptoms and the role they play in the process of parents’ adaptation to their child’s illness.