Patients with advanced cancer and their spouses parenting minor children: The role of the relationship context in parenting concerns

Abstract

Objective: Patients with advanced cancer who parent minor children report parenting concerns and increased psychological distress. This cross-sectional study seeks to understand parenting-related issues in patients and spousal caregivers from a relationship perspective.

Methods: Patients with a metastatic solid malignancy and their spouses independently completed cross-sectional assessments of psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), parenting concerns (Parenting Concern Questionnaire) and efficacy (Cancer-Related Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale), and relationship measures (DAS-7, Couples' Illness Communication Scale, and Family Relationship Index).

Results: Of the 51 patients (57% female, 49% NHW, mean age 42 years) and spouses (43% female, 43% NHW, mean age of 42 years), approximately 50% couples endorsed psychological distress and were at risk for family dysfunction. Spouses reported significantly higher levels of parenting-related concerns (t = -2.0, p < 0.05) and anxiety (t = -2.8, p < 0.001) than patients. Parenting concerns were significantly associated with illness communication (r = -0.56, p < 0.001) and family function (r = -0.38, p < 0.001). Although the expected interactions between parenting concerns and relationship variables (i.e., illness communication, dyadic adjustment, and family function) were significant for depressive symptoms at p < 0.05, the associations were not in the expected direction. Relationship function buffered against depressive symptoms for those with low rather than high parenting concerns.

Conclusions: Not only patients but also spouses report cancer-related parenting concerns. The associations between parenting concerns and distress were stronger for spouses than patients. Dual caregiving appears to be a particularly stressful role. Because relationship function was associated with parenting concerns, we suggest that parent support programs that are couple-based and include both parenting-specific and relationship-specific content may be most effective in reducing distress for this vulnerable population.

Keywords: advanced cancer; cancer; co-parents; family caregivers; illness communication; metastatic cancer; oncology; parenting concerns; relationship function; spousal caregivers.