Impact of maternal breast cancer on school-aged children in Saudi Arabia

BMC Research Notes

Harold G Koenig⁴  Basem Salama El-deek¹  Samia M Al-Amoudi²  Faten Al-Zaben³ 

[1] Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi Breast Cancer Center of Excellence and Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudia Arabia;Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia;Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA

关键词: Mothers;    School-aged;    Saudi;    Sociology;    Psychosocial;    Chronic illness;    Psychology;    Children;    Cancer;    Breast;   

Others  :  1133258
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-0500-7-261

 received in 2014-03-29, accepted in 2014-04-09,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

We examine whether mothers with breast cancer told their children about the diagnosis, explore mothers’ perceptions of the impact of doing so on the mother-child relationship, and assess perceptions of how this affected the children.

Methods

A convenience sample of 28 women with breast cancer ages 35 to 60 was interviewed using a 39-item close-ended questionnaire at the Al-Amoudi Breast Cancer Center of Excellence, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Inclusion criteria were having a diagnosis of breast cancer and having school-aged children (ages 5 to 16 years). Questions were asked concerning each child (n = 99).

Results

The majority of women (75%) told their children about the diagnosis, and explained the treatment (61%). In most cases, telling the children had a positive effect on how the children treated their mothers (84%), on the maternal-child relationship (80%), and on the personality and behavior of the child (90%). The most common negative reaction by children was increased clinging behavior to the mother (15%). Despite the perceived positive impact on the mother-child relationship and on the child’s overall behavior towards the mother, school performance suffered as a result (77%).

Conclusions

These preliminary results suggest that when a mother with breast cancer tells a child about the diagnosis and discusses it with them, this often results in an improvement in the maternal-child relationship. However, the knowing the mother’s diagnosis may adversely affect the child’s school performance, which will need to be anticipated and addressed with formal counseling if it persists.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Al-Zaben et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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