Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Stress Burden in a Sample of Egyptian Caregivers of Children with Cancer

Abstract

The birth of a child changes family life. The developmental stages of a family are thought to be parallel to the developmental stages of children. As a more difficult change, the diagnosis of a child with cancer marks the beginning of a tough time for families. Parents’ psychology (being the main caregiver) is affected negatively in every stage of the illness and they experience intense anxiety, depression and a combination of hope and desperation. For many families, the diagnosis of cancer is experienced as a trauma and may later cause post-traumatic stress reactions. Recent studies have shown that a majority of parents of newly diagnosed children show symptoms of acute stress, with 10%-40% of parents would meet the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. Accordingly, we hypothesized that PTSD would be represented in caregivers of children with cancer with percentage near to that found in previous studies.