Mental health of mothers following a revelation of a cancer diagnosis of their children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between how mothers with cancer inform their children about their disease and the mothers’ mental health. The participants comprised 31 cancer patients who had children under the age of 18 at the time of their diagnosis. We asked the patients to complete a series of questionnaires. The results revealed that mothers who told their children more about their cancer scored higher on posttraumatic growth (PTG); however, no correlations with anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) were found. Additionally, mothers who told children the treatment methods scored higher on PTG than those who did not. Furthermore, mothers who communicated the side effects of treatment with their children scored lower on depression indicators than those who did not. Owing to the limitations of this study, including the study design and sample size, the results can neither be generalized nor do they suggest that communicating with their children about their disease influences the mothers’ mental health. However, by recruiting larger samples, future studies will be able to investigate its influence considering children’s developmental stage and mothers’ mental health conditions.