May N. Khoury
American University of Beirut, USA
Title: Coping with the experience of having a child with cancer; a Lebanese perspective
Biography
Biography: May N. Khoury
Abstract
Background: Families with a child with cancer face significant emotional and psychosocial stressors. The frequency of childhood cancer is increasing in Lebanon with more than 282 child diagnosed each year. This condition is reported to evoke a range of challenging emotions for parents, yet no studies reported about Lebanese parents’ coping strategies with a child with cancer. Objectives: the purpose of the study is to gain more in depth understanding of the coping strategies of Lebanese parents with a child with cancer. Methods: the study followed purposeful sampling and saturation principles in which 12 parents (mother or father) of a child were interviewed. Data were analyzed following the Utrecht School of phenomenology. Seven core themes emerged from the data describing the coping strategies of Lebanese parents with a child with cancer: the waiting time and the hospital stay; change in the couple’s relationship; siblings’ rivalry; social / family support; talking about it makes a big difference; dependence on God and communication style of health workers. Conclusions: these results cannot be directly generalized, but they could act as a basis for additional research on which to base a development of a structure for an approach to care that endorses coping processes in Lebanese parents with a child with cancer. Implications for practice: nursing and medical staff need to be conscious of parents’ coping strategies and its impact on the interaction process between the family and the health care team and the family dynamics.