Profiles of parental coping with paediatric cancer and their associations with parental illness adaptation

Nadya Golfenshtein, Lamia Barakat, Amy J. Lisanti, Shifra Ash

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Aims: To identify profiles of coping in parents of children with cancer and their underlying factors and to examine which profile(s) are associated with illness adaptation. Design: A cross-sectional study utilizing surveys among parents of children with cancer (n = 89). Methods: Questionnaires included socio-demographics, ways of coping, parenting stress, depression, post-traumatic symptoms, illness adjustment and quality of life. Parental coping profiles were identified via latent profile analysis. Logistic multinomial regression was used to identify predictors of coping profiles. Adaptation outcomes were compared across the coping profiles via multivariable analyses of variance with Bonferroni adjustments. Results: Five profiles were identified: The ‘Strong Repertoire’ used coping strategies moderate to high degree, with a positive-active orientation; The ‘Moderate-Activist’ used a similar pattern, rather more moderately; The ‘Self-Regulator’ used self-content strategies; The ‘Mild-Engager’ used active-engaging strategies; The ‘Avoidant Coper’ used avoidant-passive strategies. Parental stress predicted coping profiles, so that parents experiencing greater stress utilized the ‘Avoidant Coper’ to a greater degree. Group comparisons revealed that ‘Avoidant-Copers’ had more depressive and post-traumatic symptoms, worse illness adjustment and lower quality of life. Conclusions: Passive-avoidant mechanisms of coping may be maladaptive in terms of parental cancer adaptation and indicative of lower resilience. Impact: Findings can direct clinicians to promote familial resilience by adapting policy and practice to meet familial needs. Patient or Public Contribution: Not applicable.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Advanced Nursing
Early online date31 Jul 2024
DOIs
StateE-pub ahead of print - 31 Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Advanced Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

  • family nursing
  • illness adaptation
  • latent profile analysis
  • Paediatric cancer
  • parental coping

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Nursing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Profiles of parental coping with paediatric cancer and their associations with parental illness adaptation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this