| Cancer affects many families every day. A cancer diagnosis is a life changing experience for everyone in the family including the children. The research on how children react to parental cancer has had differing results. Some research has found that children who have a parent with cancer have more emotional and behavioral problems compared with other children in their age group. However, other researchers have found that children may appear better adjusted by clinical standards than the norm population.The focus of this study was to understand more about how latency age children, ages 6--12 years old, who are dealing with parental cancer make meaning out of the experience and integrate it in their life. The goal of using an exploratory qualitative design is to learn more about how children understand their parent's illness and how it is affecting their lives in their words. Themes that emerged can be used to guide more specific future research.Seven latency age children were involved in this study about their experience of parental cancer. This was done through a parent questionnaire and a one-on-one interview with the child. These interviews consisted of drawing tasks, semi-structured interview questions, and a feelings questionnaire. The results of the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis to find dominant themes. The major themes that emerged involved the parent's ability to participate in everyday activities, the children's feelings of sadness and anger, and the coping behaviors they used to deal with the parental cancer. |
