title: Psychosocial correlates of paediatric cancer in the United Arab Emirates.
abstract: To study the psychosocial factors and illness variables associated with children's and parents' perceptions of and ways of coping with cancer, in 38 childhood cancer patients aged 5-15 years, coping was studied in relation to sociodemographic variables and self-perception in terms of competence, behaviour and self-worth. Less optimal coping was found to be associated with poor family communications and lack of sharing/expression of emotions ( P=0.005), presence of behavioural and emotional problems in the child ( P=0.008) and parental lack of hope ( P=0.001). No association was found with gender, parental education or occupation, socioeconomic status, or child's self-perception including global estimation of self-worth. Furthermore, none of the illness variables was found to be associated with coping. Awareness about health-related issues was found to be strongly associated with parental education ( P=0.000). Our findings suggest that parental hope and both social and family communication are integral to helping patients and families cope with the illness experience.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. veapen@uaeu.ac.ae
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Eapen
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Revesz
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D012067:Religion; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013995:Time; D014479:United Arab Emirates