The Impact of Personal Resilience Resources on Psychosocial Outcomes in Parents of Children with Cancer (SA509-C)

Abstract

1.To understand the relationship between current parent-reported resilience resources and psychosocial outcomes, including psychological distress, health behaviors, social and family function, and communication with the medical team.2.To describe potential and novel interventions designed to target and promote resilience, and subsequently improve patient/family outcomes. Parent psychosocial function can impact the well-being of the entire family. An approach to improving outcomes may be to promote resilience. To evaluate the relationships between parent-reported resilience resources and outcomes such as psychological distress, health behaviors, family function, and communication with the medical team. We hypothesized that lower resilience resources, as measured by the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, would be associated with worse outcomes. In this cross-sectional, survey-based study (the “Understanding Resilience in Parents of Children with Cancer” study), comprehensive surveys were mailed to consecutive parents of children with cancer who were treated at Seattle Children's Hospital and had completed therapy or died between 01/01/2009 and 12/31/2010. Parents or legal guardians were eligible if their child had completed therapy or died at least 6 months prior to enrollment, they were English-speaking, and had a valid mailing address. Linear and logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationships between resilience resources and the following outcomes: parent psychological distress, health-related behaviors, social and family function, and perceived communication with the medical team. One hundred twenty parents (82% of contactable) completed the survey, including 24 bereaved, and 96 non-bereaved. Respondents were mostly mothers. Compared with population norms, non-bereaved parents had lower resilience resources, higher psychological distress, and more commonly reported binge drinking. Conversely, they reported higher social support and family adaptability (P<0.001-0.006). Bereaved parents had similar resilience resources, but higher levels of psychological distress, sleep difficulties, and financial hardship (P<0.05). Among non-bereaved parents, adjusted for sex, lower resilience resources were associated with higher psychological distress, lower social support, and lower family function (P<0.001-0.007). Parents in the lowest quartile of resilience resources had higher odds of reporting frequent sleep difficulties (OR, 5.19; 95% CI, 1.74, 15.45), lower health satisfaction (OR, 5.71; 95% CI, 2.05, 15.92), and decreased ability to express their hopes (OR, 3.08; 95% CI, 1.12, 8.49) or worries (OR, 4.00; 95% CI, 1.43, 11.18) to the medical team. Parents of children with cancer are at risk for poor psychosocial outcomes and those with low resilience resources may be at greater risk.