Impact of cognitive behavioural intervention on caregiver burden in mothers of children diagnosed with cancer.

BACKGROUND

Mothers of children diagnosed with cancer are found to have coping difficulties in various studies. Most of the studies were done on parents after their child has been newly diagnosed with malignancy, and very few studies were done on coping skills intervention. Hence, this study has been done to assess the impact of cognitive behavioural intervention on caregiver burden in mothers of children diagnosed with cancer.

METHODS

Twenty mothers coming to the outpatient department of paediatric oncology from 01 September 2018 to 30 April 2019 were enrolled for the study. The participants were administered General Health Questionnaire, Brief Coping Operation Preference Enquiry Scale, Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-21 (CISS-21) Scale. Sixteen sessions of cognitive behavioural intervention were given over 8 weeks to all the participants. Reassessment was done after 3 months by use of the above mentioned scales.

RESULTS

Participants' mean anxiety score was 49.40 (standard deviation [SD] ±8.89). They used adaptive (active coping and positive reframing) more than the maladaptive (denial and self-blame) coping strategies. Task- and emotion-focused coping mean score on CISS-21 revealed 19.25 (SD ±6.20) and 18.90 (SD ±5.76), respectively. Reassessment after cognitive behavioural intervention revealed statistically significant improvement in maladaptive coping styles, mean anxiety index score, avoidance, and emotion-focused coping.

CONCLUSION

The study has revealed mild to moderate anxiety and the use of both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies by participants. There is statistically significant improvement in anxiety, maladaptive coping strategies with cognitive behavioural intervention.