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Stress and psychological adjustment in caregivers of children with cancer.
- Source :
-
Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association [Health Psychol] 2021 May; Vol. 40 (5), pp. 295-304. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Objective: To examine effects of stress on caregiver psychological adjustment during the first year of pediatric cancer.<br />Method: Caregivers (N = 159) of children with cancer completed monthly questionnaires assessing domains of caregiver psychological adjustment (depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms) and stress (general life stress, treatment-related stress, caregiver perceptions of treatment intensity and life threat). Effects of stress were assessed at two levels to examine whether within-person changes in stress predicted concurrent changes in caregiver adjustment and whether average stress was associated with between-person differences in caregiver adjustment trajectories.<br />Results: Overall, higher levels of stress factors were associated with poorer caregiver adjustment at both the between- and within-person levels, with high average levels of treatment-related stress and general life stress emerging as leading predictors of worse adjustment.<br />Conclusions: Both types of stressors, those directly related as well as unrelated to a child's cancer, contribute uniquely to caregiver distress. Caregiver distress is impacted by both overall levels of stress over time as well as month-to-month changes in stress. Implications for informing care for at-risk caregivers are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1930-7810
- Volume :
- 40
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34152783
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001070