[Differences in current state and at the beginning of cancer therapy and possible sequelae: a pilot study in...

The psycho-social and medical care of families with a cancer sick child can be more effective if the team can identify those parents who need help most desperately from the very beginning. In a retrospective study of 20 patients and their families two groups of parents with different levels of stress could be seperated. Highly stressed parents demonstrated already at the time of diagnosis unfavorable coping strategies with the possibility of a cancer disease. They experience a high degree of guilt feelings and believe that they might be responsible for the occurrence of the disease. However they refuse more often than the other parents psycho-social help offered by the professionals. The results suggest to implement special kind of help for the more stressed families already in the early phase of diagnosis and treatment.