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An exploration of the perceptions, experience and practice of cancer clinicians in caring for patients with cancer who are also parents of dependent-age children

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Abstract

Background

Being a parent alongside a cancer diagnosis presents unique challenges. It is unclear to what degree parenting considerations feature in routine care and how doctors approach treatment decision discussions.

Objective

To explore doctor perspectives regarding patients with cancer who have dependent children.

Methodology

Focus groups and interviews conducted to ascertain doctor views. Responses were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.

Results

Twenty-eight doctors participated: medical oncology (7), haematology (10), palliative care (8), and psycho-oncology (3). Participants observed cancer impacted upon parenting across several domains: psycho-social, practical, and family implications. Having dependent children was perceived to influence the patient experience and decision-making by patients and clinicians. Participants identified this cohort as emotionally demanding to care for with a range of psychological effects identified for doctors, particularly in highly challenging circumstances (single-parent and non-English speaking families, scenarios involving communication difficulties).

Conclusion

Participants recognised the presence of dependent children to profoundly influence the experience of being both a parent and a patient with cancer. Identifying patients with parental responsibilities was noted as relevant for management at diagnosis through to death. Greater understanding of doctors’ experiences providing care for this cohort may inform the development of resources to assist doctors and their patients.

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Availability of data and material

Data supporting this study are stored by the corresponding author and available on reasonable request to authors due to privacy restrictions.

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Funding

This work was supported in part by a grant received from St Vincent’s Hospital Foundation Joyce Granger Sub-fund.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

SH, JP and SAM each contributed to the study concept and design, study implementation, data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah Heynemann.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

St Vincent’s Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee approved this project LRR 224/18. This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

Participants were informed prior to their participation in the study (via the Patient Information and Consent Form and verbal introduction by the interview or focus group facilitator) that the data collected from their involvement would be de-identified, collated and aggregated for analysis and synthesis as a published report.

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Heynemann, S., Philip, J. & McLachlan, SA. An exploration of the perceptions, experience and practice of cancer clinicians in caring for patients with cancer who are also parents of dependent-age children. Support Care Cancer 29, 3895–3902 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05969-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05969-x

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