The Impact of Childhood Cancer on Family Functioning: A Review

Abstract

Family functioning can influence the adjustment of children with cancer. In order to provide effective interventions for the family, it is important to recognize how family functioning, including parental adjustment and distress, can change during the course of treatment. Upon review of current literature, some variations in findings in family functioning due to childhood cancer were found. While some families showed resiliency (a non-disorganizing impact), others showed signs of impairment throughout the treatment (a disorganizing impact). Moreover, some families even exhibited improvement (an organizing impact). In addition, it was found that such outcomes were related to different research methodologies (i.e., quantitative, qualitative, cross sectional, longitudinal). Based on these methodological distinctions, this review attempted to seek links between specific research designs and particular results in order to delineate a clearer picture of the dynamic transitions within families and their function over the course of childhood cancer treatment. Considering an overall trend of family functioning associated across studies of varied methodologies, this review speculates that while families with high family functioning might receive appropriate social resources and strengthen their internal bonds during the course of treatment, families with low family functioning might experience difficulties coping with adverse events and fail to reestablish a new pattern of family functioning. This review also indicates that such changes in family functioning occur on both practical (e.g., reassignment of family role) and existential levels (e.g., exploration of the meaning of illness) in the context of childhood cancer.