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Treatment for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: the fathers' perspective
1Centre for Palliative Care Research & Education, Royal Brisbane Hospital, QLD.
Insights
Fathers experience significant emotional pain coping with their child's Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) treatment. Their struggles challenge gender stereotypes, revealing common parental challenges in childhood cancer care.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Oncology
- Childhood Cancer
- Parental Adaptation
Background:
- Limited research exists on parental adaptation to childhood chronic illnesses, especially concerning fathers' experiences.
- Existing studies often overlook paternal roles, conflating maternal and paternal responses in pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) treatment.
- Understanding fathers' coping mechanisms is crucial for comprehensive family-centered care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the paternal experience of treatment for pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL).
- To contribute findings on fathers' coping strategies and emotional responses during their child's ALL treatment.
- To challenge traditional gender stereotypes regarding parental roles in pediatric cancer care.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study conducted at the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland.
- Qualitative data collection focusing on fathers' perspectives during their child's ALL treatment.
- Analysis of fathers' emotional and practical challenges throughout the treatment journey.
Main Results:
- Fathers experience profound emotional pain and struggle to accept their child's life-threatening ALL diagnosis.
- Key challenges include shock of diagnosis, coping with illness, expressing pain (including tears), desire to be with the child, managing medical interventions, and concern for other family members.
- Findings indicate these emotional and practical struggles are not gender-specific.
Conclusions:
- Paternal experiences of childhood ALL treatment are significant and emotionally impactful.
- The study challenges the male stereotype, demonstrating that fathers share many of the same coping challenges as mothers.
- Findings underscore the need for gender-sensitive support for all parents navigating pediatric cancer treatment.
Abstract:
Research on parental adaptation to a child's chronic illness is still scant, and this is particularly so in relation to the experience of treatment for paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). The work that does exist on parental reactions tends to conflate maternal responses with paternal responses, as fathers are usually seen as having a secondary role. Consequently, little is known about how fathers cope with treatment for childhood ALL. The present discussion seeks to make a contribution to this area by presenting findings on the paternal experience of treatment for paediatric ALL from a longitudinal study conducted at Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland. The findings from this research clearly indicate the emotional pain that fathers face in their struggle to accept the diagnosis of a serious, life-threatening illness such as ALL in their child. The findings challenge the notion of the make stereotype by showing that the shock of diagnosis, the emotional pain of coping with the illness, the expression of pain through tears, the desire to be with the child, the struggle to cope with the medical interventions, and concerns about other family members are not gender specific, but are rather issues common to both parents.