The Care Burden and Difficulties Experienced by Parents Caring for a Child with Cancer

Abstract

Worldwide, one in 700 children up to the age of 14, or about 160,000 children, will be diagnosed with a new cancer. Complications caused by pediatric cancer treatments and the disease affect the quality of life of the child and his or her family. Parents of children with cancer have many tasks to perform, such as monitoring the child’s symptoms, controlling and ensuring the child’s well-being, providing emotional support to the child, planning and managing care, and landscaping to ensure the child’s safety. For this reason, families struggle with physical, psychological, social, and economic issues when caring for children with cancer. This review addresses the problems caregiving burdens of parents caring for children with cancer.