Coping Strategies of the Parents of the Children with Cancer

Occurrence of cancer in a family involves every member in a way and puts a great deal of mental and financial pressure on them. In such situation، people adopt strategies in order to reduce the stress and pressure and consequently overcome them. In this regard، the present paper addresses the coping strategies the Parents of the Children with Cancer supported by Mahak Charity adopt. The present study has been carried out through a survey. 200 participants were chosen among 991 parents of the children with cancer through convenience sampling. Data was gathered through Lazarus coping strategies questionnaire and analyzed by using χ² tests. In the present study most of the children (127) were male and most of the watchers (143) were mothers. Findings illustrates that mothers of the children with cancer adopted confronting strategies more than fathers did. Educated parents of these children adopted confronting، avoid save، prevention-escape and responsibility strategies less commonly. Meanwhile، total scores of the educated parents were significantly lower than that of the uneducated ones. Parents who had a child other than the child with cancer، adopted more of wise strategy and less of continence strategy. Parents whose child was suffering from cancer for longer time adopted wise strategy more commonly. The results of this study demonstrate that parents of the children with cancer mostly adopt emotion-focused strategies. Constant mental pressure and exhaustion due to the child’s sickness along with financial issues could reduce the capability of the parents of these children and affect the effectiveness of the medical interventions. Adopting emotion-focused strategies could enhance such situations. Hence، designing and implementing studies on consultation-training and supportive interventions in favor of the watchers of such children could improve the quality of the services provided to them.