Maternal cancer diagnosis and communication to minor children: a retrospective observational study
Keywords:
Communication of cancer diagnosis, Maternal distress, Emotional impact on childrenAbstract
The article presents the implementation of the project entitled “Listen to me”, promoted by LILT - Italian League for the Fight against Tumors and aimed at knowing the level of distress, accused by mothers who have received a tumor diagnosis, and the impact that the event has on their children in developmental age. The study scans the operating methods, with which mothers have communicated to their children the bad news received, using the SPIKES grid (Setting – Perception – Invitation – Knowledge – Emotions – Summary) by Baile and Buckman. It is a retrospective observational survey conducted with 20 mothers, who recall the emotional state experienced at the diagnosis of cancer, by filling out the Distress Thermometer, and report their perception of the emotional impacts on their children, by filling out the TSCYC questionnaire (Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children). Mothers show an initial strong distress, which moderates after a month, connected to personal emotional problems, to relational problems with the partner and to worries about child care; the children are perceived at risk of anxiety and depression and even of post-traumatic syndrome; maternal communication is sometimes completely absent and, when it is proposed, it does not follow all the phases of the SPIKES model. The study recommends suggesting to mothers with a tumor diagnosis to follow the SPIKES scheme in communicating with their children and to evaluate its effects on the children.
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