فهرست مطالب نیلوفر ثانی

Cancer is among the main causes of death worldwide and the third cause of children’s death Iran. Children who suffer from cancer experience anxiety, and their parents’ mental health will be put in danger. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between parents’ mental health and anxiety in children with cancer in Hamadan, Iran, 2023.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 100 children aged between 6-18 years old with cancer who were accompanied by their parents and referred to the Hematology Ward of Besat Hospital, Hamadan, Iran, and had inclusion criteria were selected through available sampling. Data collection tools included the Demographic Information Questionnaire, Goldberg mental health questionnaire (GHQ-28), and multidimensional anxiety scale for children (MASC). The collected data was analyzed using SPSS (version 26) and correlation and regression tests.

The mean and SD of the age of the children was 9.59 ± 2.88 years, and most (55%) of the studied children were boys and had leukemia (42%). The mean and SD of parents' mental health was 27.56 (10.66), and children's anxiety was 60.8 (14.93). No statistically significant relationship was observed between the mental health of parents and the anxiety of children with cancer (P>0.05).

The obtained results showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between parents' mental health and children's anxiety. Therefore, it is suggested to investigate these characteristics in a larger sample size and a different statistical population in future studies.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents many challenges to mothers of children with autism, so it seems that the stress of parenting strongly affects their coping styles and participation in care. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of parenting stress with coping styles and participation in care in mothers of children aged 6-14 with autism in the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was a correlation study, in which 110 mothers of autistic children referred to autism centers affiliated to Hamadan University of Medical Sciences were selected by convenience sampling method, four Data collection tools included demographic information questionnaires, parenting stress-short form questionnaires, Coping strategies questionnaires and parental bonding instrument. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22 through descriptive statistics and analytical statistics (independent t-test, ANOVA and multiple linear regression with reverse approach).

In mothers of children with autism, there was a strong and inverse correlation between parenting stress and adaptation methods (p<0.001, r=-0.91),and also between parenting stress and participation in care (p<0.001, r=-0.87). Also, 69.47% of the variance of mothers' parenting stress was explained by the variables of adjustment methods, participation in care, number of children with autism, child's age, performance level of the child with autism, family income, age, job and mother's education.

Pediatric nurses and policy makers of community health should provide a suitable educational and supportive environment for mothers of autistic children to increase adaptation and involvement in care of these mothers and consequently reduce their parenting stress.