title: The level of perceived stress of parents of children with cancerous disease - mechanisms of dealing with stress and social support.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cancerous disorders are the second most common cause of death among children. Blood cancer is a stressful and traumatic situation for the child, as well as the parents. To overcome the stress of child's illness parents adopt different coping styles. In overcoming these difficulties, the invaluable role is played by social support they receive from medical staff, family or institution.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the feeling of stress for parents of children diagnosed with blood cancer, to determine how they choose to deal with stress in a difficult situation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group consisted of 63 parents of children diagnosed with blood cancer. The study used the PSS-10 scale to assess the stress experienced by parents, 40 GP ISEL scale to assess social support, Inventory Ways to Measure Coping and the author's questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High perception of stress was observed among parents. It was found that the strategy based on active coping (taking action to improve the situation) got the highest scores among the strategies for coping with stress. The study showed that parents can most often count on material support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The feeling of stress severity among parents is high, particularly among women and people with higher education. The actions of medical team should take into account the needs of parents in raising and maintaining the resources to adapt to the difficult situation of child's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nursing, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland. grazyna. cepuch@uj.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cepuch
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Citko
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wojtas
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011044:Poland; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult