Maternal coping strategies in response to child’s oncological diseases in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: Parents with cancer children face multiple and unexpected difficulties and apply coping strategies to minimize stressful conditions. The objective of this study was to assess maternal coping strategies in response to their children with cancer in Sri Lanka.Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 mothers having children with cancers. Coping Health Inventory for Parents instrument was used to collect information about coping strategies.Results: More than 75% children were diagnosed as cancer more than 6 months before when starting this study. Maintaining family integration, cooperation, optimistic definition of the situation was the most helpful coping strategy while seeking medical helps through communication with parents and consultation with medical staff was the least helpful coping strategy among mothers. Gender of the child and current condition of the disease were significantly associated with social support and medical support. Type of disease was significantly associated with family support and the number of other children per mother was significantly associated with social support.Conclusions: Relaxation and counseling programs to modify less desirable coping strategies are emphasized for mothers who were with cancer children. More researches need to identify coping strategies and its impact on psychological and physical adjustment as well.