title: Childhood cancer: differential effects on the family members.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe individual, dyadic, and family responses to childhood cancer and related current-life stresses, self-esteem issues, marital satisfaction, and perceptions of family environments. A descriptive, correlational design was used with 20 families who had at least one well child and one child with cancer. Parents and children were asked to create drawings using a projective drawing technique called Kinetic Family Drawings (KFDs), then these drawings were compared with norms on the following quantitative measures: Schedule of Recent Experiences, Life Events Scale for Adolescents and Life Events Scale for Children, Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and the Family Environment Scale. Results supported a need to evaluate each family member's individual responses to childhood cancer, given the importance of the family as a social environment for children. Results revealed an informative and, at times, varied profile across instruments and family members in the areas of adjustment, life stresses, self-esteem, marital satisfaction, and views of the family environment. For example, mothers reported significantly lower self-esteem than fathers. Yet, with the KFD, no significant differences on scores were found between family members.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington School of Nursing, Seattle.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Cornman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000523:psychology*; D008016:Life Change Events; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011386:Projective Techniques; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D012801:Sibling Relations; D012931:Social Environment