Masa'deh Rami, Jarrah Samiha
Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
Community Health Nursing, Dean faculty of Nursing, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.
Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2017 Feb;31(1):8-12. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2016.07.012. Epub 2016 Aug 1.
To investigate levels of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of those parenting children with cancer and make a comparison between mothers and fathers.
Parenting a child with cancer is traumatic. Maternal and paternal roles and responsibilities change after the cancer diagnosis of their child, adding more stress to the lives of all concerned. The gender of the parent may have an effect on their PTSD. However, there is a lack of studies in Arabic countries on the differences between parents in their PTSD levels.
A sample of 416 biological parents (comprising 207 mothers and 209 fathers) of children with cancer in Jordan completed a demographic checklist and the PTSD Checklist Civilian (PCLC).
There was a significant difference in PTSD levels between mothers and fathers, with mothers having significantly higher PTSD levels than fathers. The mean PTSD levels for mothers was (M=59.68, SD=4.86) compared to (M=52.76, SD=5.81) for fathers. The magnitude of the differences in the means was very large (eta squared=0.29). Additionally, results indicated that there was a significant negative correlation between parental PTSD levels with their age and the time since their child was diagnosed with cancer (r=-0.68, r=-0.62 respectively and p<0.001). An increase in parental PTSD levels was associated with a decrease in parental age and short time duration since the cancer diagnosis of the child.
The study concluded that parenting children with cancer is traumatic and mothers were at higher risk of PTSD than fathers. Risk of PTSD was found to decrease with time.
Investigating differences in PTSD between mothers and fathers in Jordan may be helpful when designing interventions to reduce the risk of PTSD. An individual parental support program is important, taking into consideration that mothers are at higher risk of PTSD, and both parents need thorough attention and care.
调查患有癌症儿童的父母的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）水平，并比较母亲和父亲之间的差异。
养育患有癌症的孩子是一种创伤。孩子被诊断出患有癌症后，母亲和父亲的角色及责任会发生变化，给所有相关人员的生活增添更多压力。父母的性别可能会对他们的创伤后应激障碍产生影响。然而，阿拉伯国家缺乏关于父母创伤后应激障碍水平差异的研究。
约旦416名患有癌症儿童的亲生父母（包括207名母亲和209名父亲）组成的样本完成了一份人口统计学清单和民用创伤后应激障碍清单（PCLC）。
母亲和父亲的创伤后应激障碍水平存在显著差异，母亲的创伤后应激障碍水平显著高于父亲。母亲的创伤后应激障碍平均水平为（M = 59.68，SD = 4.86），而父亲为（M = 52.76，SD = 5.81）。均值差异的幅度非常大（偏eta平方 = 0.29）。此外，结果表明，父母的创伤后应激障碍水平与他们的年龄以及孩子被诊断出患有癌症后的时间呈显著负相关（分别为r = -0.68，r = -0.62，p < 0.001）。父母创伤后应激障碍水平的增加与父母年龄的降低以及孩子癌症诊断后的时间缩短有关。
该研究得出结论，养育患有癌症的孩子是一种创伤，母亲患创伤后应激障碍的风险高于父亲。发现创伤后应激障碍的风险会随着时间降低。
在约旦调查母亲和父亲之间创伤后应激障碍的差异，可能有助于设计降低创伤后应激障碍风险的干预措施。考虑到母亲患创伤后应激障碍的风险较高，且父母双方都需要全面关注和照顾，一个针对个体父母的支持项目很重要。
