Adult survivors of childhood cancer and their parents: experiences with survivorship and long-term follow-up.

To compare the perspectives of adult childhood cancer survivors and their parents in terms of: (1) parental involvement in the survivor's healthcare, (2) thoughts and discussion about their own or their son's/daughter's childhood cancer, (3) concern about the survivor's current health status, and (4) perceived benefits of follow-up care. Forty-two adult survivors and their parents completed a semistructured audio-taped interview via the phone responding to a parallel set of questions. Thirty-eight percent of survivors reported that one of their parents attended the adult survivor clinic with them; in 41% of patient-parent dyads the parent expressed more concern than their child about the child's health status; 45% of the parents reported thinking about the cancer experience more often than their child.