long-term survivors ; cancer ; adolescents ; mothers ; post traumatic stress
Abstract
Objectives: This study was done to investigate the occurrence of cancer-related post traumatic stress in adolescent survivors of childhood cancer and their mothers.
Methods: The study was conducted in a university medical center in Seoul. The participants were 48 adolescent survivors and their 48 mothers. Data was collected through self-report questionnaires and it was analyzed using the SPSS/WIN program.
Results: The mean scores for post traumatic stress level of the adolescents were 8.30±7.97 and 8.93±7.95 in their mothers. There was no significant differences between two groups. The frequencies of moderate and severe level of post traumatic stress, which is considered indicative of clinically significant, were higher in mothers than in adolescents. Of the subcategories of post traumatic stress, the first grade was arousal symptoms in both groups.
Conclusion: The findings of this study support the idea that survivors of childhood cancer and their mothers can experience post traumatic stress after many years from diagnosis and since completion of treatment. Therefore Nursing intervention program for prevention and management should be developed for adolescents and their mothers who have suffered from post traumatic stress after childhood cancer