Caring for a young adult with cancer: The impact on mothers' health.

Grinyer, Anne (2006) Caring for a young adult with cancer: The impact on mothers' health. Health and Social Care in the Community, 14 (4). pp. 311-318. ISSN 0966-0410

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Abstract

That the carers of people with cancer are profoundly affected by their caring role is well established, yet the needs of one particular cohort, i.e. the parents of young adults with cancer, have not been well understood. The majority of carers in this situation are mothers, and it is the impact of the emotional and physical labour entailed by the care of young adults that is the focus of the present paper. Through the analysis of qualitative narrative data contributed by the mothers of young adults with cancer, the aim of this paper is to examine the health effects for women of caring for a young adult son or daughter with a life-threatening illness. The results suggest that there is an impact on the mother's health that results in unspecific, low-grade and chronic psychological and somatic symptoms which the mothers rank as a low priority. The mothers’ attempts to appear to be managing may serve to mask their own health needs from health professionals whose primary concern is the health of the son or daughter. Where psychological distress is admitted, the resulting use of prescribed antidepressants may not be experienced as helpful. The conclusions are that, because of the particular circumstances of caring for a young adult son or daughter with cancer, health professionals’ attention to the mothers’ health throughout the cancer journey may act as a preventative measure for later and more serious ill health.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Health and Social Care in the Community
Additional Information:
RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Social Work and Social Policy & Administration
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3301
Subjects:
?? social sciences (miscellaneous)public health, environmental and occupational healthsociology and political sciencehealth policyr medicine (general) ??
ID Code:
3330
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
20 Mar 2008 10:29
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
28 Nov 2023 10:46