The Role of Parents in Their Child's Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, Rehabilitation, and Socialization.

Objective: To investigate the role of parents (family) as participants in their child's cancer diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Methods: This survey research was carried out by the Institute of Social Sciences, I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University) in 2019-2020. The survey involved 237 parents of children with cancer admitted to oncological clinics of the North Caucasus Federal District. More than half of parents (54.9%) took their child to a pediatrician because of the unusual and strange symptoms. The overwhelming majority of respondents (99.1%) admitted stress and shock on hearing the cancer diagnosis. Besides emotional issues, they reported financial problems (55.3%), and a change in lifestyle (38.4%).

Results: During the treatment period, parents sought financial and organizational support from medical institutions (49.4%), as well as charitable and public organizations (40.5%). At the end of treatment, almost half of the respondents (48.9%) applied for rehabilitation services.

Conclusion: Parents play one of the key roles in their child's cancer journey. They provide the child with basic psychological support and care, and they search for resources to enable treatment and rehabilitation. Parents help their child re-enter and return to a normal life (schooling, communication with friends, etc.) after going through cancer.