The Resiliency Status and Emotional Distress in Mothers of Children with Cancer

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Abstract

Introduction: Diagnosis of childhood cancer can be considered as a psychological and emotional crisis for many patients and their parents.This study aimed to evaluation of the resiliency status and emotional distress in mothers of children with cancer. Methods: This is a descriptive study. 34 mothers of children with cancer that had referred to Dr. Sheikh Hospital and a private clinic in Mashhad for follow-up care was selected by using available sampling method. The DASS-21 was used to assess stress, anxiety and depression of mothers and in order to evaluate the status of their resiliency the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) was used. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software using Stepwise regression analysis, Pearson correlation and Kolmogorov-Smirnov. Results: The results showed that in terms of emotional distress, 68.7% of mothers had stress, 56.2% anxiety and 53.1% depression.,as well there was a negative and significant correlation between resiliency and stress, anxiety and depression (P<0.005). Conclusion: High levels of depression, anxiety and stress, as well as a negative significant correlation with resilience in mothers of children with cancer are alarming. Therefore, it is necessary to planning useful clinical services and appropriate and a targeted consulting program to improve the quality of their lives and their children seems necessary.

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