Post‐traumatic stress symptoms among mothers of children with leukemia undergoing treatment: a longitudinal study. Issue 6 (9th July 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tremolada, Marta; Bonichini, Sabrina; Aloisio, Donatella; Schiavo, Simone; Carli, Modesto; Pillon, Marta
• Is Part Of: Psycho-oncology. Volume 22:Issue 6(2013)
• Page Start: 1266
• Page End: 1272
• Publication Date: 2012-07-09
• Subjects: Cancer -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Cancer -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Neoplasms -- psychology -- Periodicals; 616.9940019
• DOI: 10.1002/pon.3132
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1057-9249

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="pon3132-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>To assess post‐traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in mothers of children over 2 years of leukemia treatment, to identify possible early family and child predictors of this symptomatology and to indicate the temporal trajectory of PTSS.</p> </sec> <sec id="pon3132-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Participants were 76 Italian mothers (mean age = 37.30 years; SD = 6.07) of children receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic (<italic>n</italic> = 69) or myeloid (<italic>n</italic> = 7) leukemia. Mothers had 12.05 years of education (SD = 3.87), and their incomes were average (52.1%), high (26%) and low (21.9%) for Italian norms, never in poverty. The pediatric patients with leukemia were equally distributed by gender with their mean age of 7.10 years (SD = 4.18).</p> <p>Post‐traumatic stress symptoms were measured by a 17‐item checklist. Scales assessing anxiety, depression, physical (Brief Symptom Inventory 18) and cognitive functioning (Problem Scale), and life evaluation were also used. There were five assessment points: 1 week (T1), 1 month (T2), 6 months (T3), 12 months (T4) and 24 months post‐diagnosis (T5).</p> </sec> <sec id="pon3132-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>The main results indicated moderate presence of clinical PTSS (≥9 symptoms: 24% at T2, 18% at T3, 16% at T4 and 19% at T5) that remained stable across time points, whereas Brief Symptom Inventory 18 Global score decreased and life evaluation improved. A series of hierarchical regression models identified cognitive functioning early after the diagnosis as the best predictive factor of PTSS across time points.</p> </sec> <sec id="pon3132-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>Specific psychological interventions could be devised for mothers at risk for short and long‐term PTSS just after the diagnosis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</p> </sec> </abstract>