Association of Family-centered care with psychological distress among caregivers of children with cancer at a tertiary level hospital in Ethiopia: cross-sectional study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Psychological distress (PD) is a common mental health problem faced by parents of children with cancer. The involvement of families in the childcare found to be associated with lower level of distress.
Objective:
The aim of the study is therefore to determine the associations of family centered care (FCC) and PD among parents of children with cancer receiving treatment at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital (TASH), Ethiopia.
Methods:
Institution based cross sectional study was conducted among 384 parents of children with cancer from June to December, 2022. The locally validated Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10) was used to measure levels of PD. Data was collected using kobo toolbox and exported to SPSS version 26 for cleaning and analysis. Multivariable logistic regression model was used. Odds ratio with 95 % confidence interval was calculated and p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
A total of 384 parents of children with cancer participated in the study. The total PD score ranged from 10 to 50 with the mean score 17.30 (SD = 8.96; 95% CI, 16.84 to 18.60). Proportion of parents found to have mild, moderate and severe level of psychological distress was found to be 11.2%, 9.1% and 13.3%, respectively. The overall prevalence of mild to severe psychological distress symptoms was 33.6% (95 % CI ,28.9% to 38.3%). Statistically significant negative association was found between FCC and PD (AOR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.53-0.86). Higher level of PD was reported among parents with lower educational level, had history of relapse, shorter time since child diagnosed and started treatment at TASH.
Conclusions:
One in three parents have reported psychological distress. FCC was found to be protective for PD. The finding of this study suggests the need for FCC intervention to improve mental health condition of parents. In addition, the intervention needs to consider educational status of parents, time since cancer diagnosis, and history of relapse.
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