Assessment of Parental Hopelessness For A Child With Cancer

Abstract

Background: The feeling of hopelessness begins immediately after the diagnosis & continues through the treatment. Caring and treatment of a child with cancer brings an enormous physical, psychological, social & economical burden upon the family.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the level of hopelessness of the parents with a child suffering from cancer.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among 217 parents with childhood cancer among which 129 were mothers and 88 were fathers, recruited from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka from January 2018 to November 2018. The research participants were selected following the convenient method of sampling on the basis of defined selection criteria. The data were collected by face to face interview of the respondents respectively maintaining privacy and confidentiality using a questionnaire called Beck Hopelessness Scale. The research instruments were interviewer's questionnaire and hopeless measuring standard scales.

Results: A total 19.4 %( n=42) had severe hopelessness and 4.6%(n=10) had minimal hopelessness status. That, mothers were more severely affected by hopelessness than fathers. Among the 19.4% of the parents with severe hopelessness 2 28.7%,(n =37) were mothers and only 5.7%,(n=5) were fathers. That parents who were less educated were more severely affected by hopelessness than higher educated parents.

Conclusion: Efficiently designed investigations are important to assess and treat psychological distress of the parents with childhood cancer patient.

KYAMC Journal Vol. 11, No.-4, January 2021, Page 184-188