Caregiving Ability of Mothers of Children With Cancer: Qualitative Content Analysis

Childhood cancer confronts the child and the parents with considerable degrees of stress. Because caring for the child is mainly the role of the mother in most families, her ability to take care of the affected child is very important.

To explore the caregiving ability of Iranian mothers who have children diagnosed with cancer.

In this present study, which was conducted using the Directed Qualitative Content Analysis Method, 11 parents having children diagnosed with cancer and 5 professional caregivers working at the Department of Hematology and Oncology of Mofid Children Hospital in Tehran, Iran, were selected using purposeful sampling method. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. Data analysis was performed simultaneously with data collection using the Directed Content Analysis Approach.

Five main categories emerged, namely, care exhaustion, care confusion, spiritual conflict, care competence, and care preparedness that represent the beneficiaries' perception of the caring ability of Iranian mothers of cancer-afflicted children.

Study results revealed that the caregiving capacity of mothers nurturing cancer-stricken children can be evaluated across 5 domains, encompassing a spectrum of maternal requirements in child care. Improving these domains can elevate maternal caregiving proficiency, fostering self-care and enhancing care for the ailing child.

A program can be developed based on the findings of the present study, in order to improve the caring ability of mothers of cancer-afflicted children, which results in improving the mother's care for her cancer-afflicted child.