BMC Research Notes | |
Impact of maternal breast cancer on school-aged children in Saudi Arabia | |
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 |
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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.
【 预 览 】
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20150304134821775.pdf | 165KB | download |
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