Psychological Consequences of Parental Cancer On Children

The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the psychological short-term and long-term consequences of parental cancer on children and possible interventions that have been reported in the existing research. Moreover, it aimed to group the common themes that emerged from the research conducted in different cohorts, that varied in age, gender and ethnicity, and emphasize the emergence of these uniformities, in usually very subjective and personal experiences. Firstly, the psychological consequences of parental cancer on children have been divided into two groups, long- term and short-term, based on duration and time of onset. It has been found that the short-term consequences can be further into three main domains: emotion- related consequences, family dynamics-related consequences and developmental phase- related consequences. Long- term consequences further emerged across other three domains: family functioning, illness related communication, unmet needs. It seems as if the communication is the main source of problems and distress in cases when it is insufficient or lacking. On the other hand, sufficient and age- appropriate communication seems to be the main means for improvement for vast variety of negative consequences children may experience when faced with parental cancer, as it has been evidenced in the interventions chapter. This thesis calls for generation of more research on this topic and better systematization of the research protocol and findings, due to the diverse nature of the sample in the existing research, because as of the current moment, no suitable intervention has been found to address majority of the negative consequences in these children’s lives.