title: Posttraumatic Stress and Attentional Bias towards Cancer-Related Stimuli in Parents of Children Recently Diagnosed with Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are related to attentional bias towards cancer-related stimuli among parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-two parents completed questionnaires measuring PTSS, depression, and anxiety and the emotional Stroop task via the Internet. The emotional Stroop task included cancer-related words, cardiovascular disease-related words, and neutral words.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants were split in two groups based on the median of PTSS: High-PTSS and Low-PTSS. There was a significant interaction between word-type and group and a planned contrast test of this interaction indicated that the High-PTSS group had longer response latencies on cancer-related words compared to the other word-type and group combinations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that PTSS are related to attentional bias towards cancer-related stimuli among parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer. Implications of this finding for the understanding of PTSS in this population, future research, and clinical practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology in Healthcare, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cernvall
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology in Healthcare, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hovén
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology in Healthcare, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ljungman
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Oncology, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gustaf
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ljungman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carlbring
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology in Healthcare, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: von Essen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult