Introduction: A family of a child with cancer needs continuous help and support from medical and other professionals, relatives, friends and community at the moment of making diagnosis and during the treatment. The goal of this study was to find out the most frequent sources of individual or community based psychological support, reported by parents of children suffering from malignant diseases. We focused on the help received at the moment of making diagnosis and within the first and second year of treatment.
Material and methods: We analyzed data obtained by a questionnaire specially designed for parents of children suffering from different malignancies. The poll was conducted from April 2007 till October 2009 at the Hematology/Oncology Department of Children's Hospital of Novi Sad and it included 72 parents of both sexes, whose children were treated at our Department in the period from 2007 to 2009. The children were of different age.
Results: The parents selected the following forms of support as the most important: support given by the emotional partner and other family members (together with sick and healthy child), communication with and accessibility of hospital stuff (physicians at the first place, but also psychologists, nurses, other parents, support groups...). They also expressed their need for contacting friends, relatives and other close people. The selected forms of support are extremely important for the patients (regardless of age) and for their family. All forms of organized and professionally conducted psycho-social support of patients and their family result in higher quality of psychological survival during the treatment and further rehabilitation of patients after rejoining their primary social environment.
Conclusion: Family is the primary and the most important social surrounding within which disease both happens and is resolved. Adequate support can help family to overcome such crises, thus leading to the positive outcome.