Family adjustment and resilience after a parental cancer diagnosis.

PURPOSE

To explore the resources, parents with cancer and their partners draw upon to sustain their family resilience through the cancer experience.

METHODS

Fifteen participants who were parents of children aged 8 to 25 years completed phone, audio-recorded, and semi-structured interviews. Of these participants, 11 were parents diagnosed with cancer, and four were partners of a parent diagnosed with cancer. Interview questions aimed to increase understanding about how families communicate, connect, and face challenges from the cancer experience. Interview data was analysed using inductive thematic analysis to provide scope to generate themes from parent's experiences rather than to test pre-existing frameworks.

RESULTS

The thematic analysis of interview transcripts generated three key themes related to family resilience: (1) adaptability to changes in roles and routines, (2) open communication within the family, and (3) accepting support from others.

CONCLUSION

This study found that parents' ability to use personal resources when faced with significant challenges helped to improve the resilience of parents' family system. Further research is needed to understand the factors that influence family resilience when a parent is diagnosed with cancer. Implications for the development of targeted interventions that provide support to not only the patient, but their whole family system will be discussed.