Worrying about one's children after breast cancer diagnosis: desired timing of psychosocial intervention.

BACKGROUND

The purposes of this observational study were to analyze at what time point mothers desired psychosocial support regarding the worry about their children during the year after breast cancer diagnosis and to identify any psychosocial factors associated with this worry.

METHODS

In a population-based study, we analyzed data from 280 mothers diagnosed with breast cancer at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.

RESULTS

Of those who did not receive chemotherapy treatment, 70 out of 112 women (63 %) reported a desire to receive support about the worry about their children, and of those who received chemotherapy treatment, 20 out of 49 (41 %) reported a need for support immediately following diagnosis and before surgery. We identified having children at home (P < 0.0001), worry about sex life (P = 0.0009), fear of dying from breast cancer (P = 0.0055), and worried about one's personal financial situation (P = 0.0413) as the variables most closely related to worry about the children.

CONCLUSIONS

Our population-based study shows that mothers with breast cancer had an immediate desire to receive psychosocial support regarding the worry about their own children. If we wish to shorten the pain associated with this worry among women diagnosed with breast cancer, it may be helpful to offer support as early in the disease trajectory as possible as it may reduce the risk of a later, more complicated, unnecessarily prolonged psychosocial rehabilitation process.