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 “A child’s cancer diagnosis is a source of parental distress and
results in an altered life situation for the family,” said senior
author Emma Hoven of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
“For the parents, the disease is associated with challenges during
and after treatment that interfere with the family’s normal
activities and routines often for a long time.”
“Heightened distress and/or the child’s increased care needs may
lead to parents being unable to work as (they did) prior to the
child’s illness,” Hoven told Reuters Health by email. “Parents may
take time off work, reduce working hours, or give up paid work to
care for their child.”
The researchers studied more than 3,000 parents of almost 2,000
children diagnosed with cancer in Sweden between 2004 and 2009,
using national databases to determine employment status. They
compared these parents to nearly 35,000 parents sampled from the
general population.
For mothers of children with cancer, income decreased more than
comparison mothers for six years after diagnosis. For fathers, the
dip lasted for three years until income became similar to comparison
fathers again.
Mothers were more likely to stop working with a child with cancer,
while fathers were not more likely to stop working. Father’s income
was higher than mother’s, on average, for all families regardless of
cancer status.
Having a child diagnosed at a younger age tended to have a bigger
impact on parental income: the most adverse effects were found for
fathers of children diagnosed under age five and mothers of children
diagnosed under age nine, as reported in Cancer.
“Concerns related to work and loss of earnings often cause
additional stress in an already demanding situation for the families
affected by childhood cancer,” Hoven said.
Parents should be able to stay at home with the child, being their
foremost support, without risking substantial consequences on income
and work, she said.
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“The intensity and frequency of treatment in children with cancer
often necessitates one parent being available at the inpatient
bedside sometimes for days to weeks at a stretch,” said Wendy
Pelletier of Alberta Children’s Hospital in Canada, who was not part
of the new study. Also, she noted by email, “many children (need) to
attend outpatient clinics for therapy and/or surveillance on a
regular basis.”
State benefits, which are available in Sweden, may help offset some
of the financial burden, Hoven said. The social security system in
Sweden offers families state benefits when parents are unable to
work due to their own illness or a child’s illness, she added.
Parents experience substantial work disruptions after a child’s
cancer diagnosis, likely in other countries as well regardless of
social security system, Hoven said.
“The more pronounced and long-lasting adverse effects on income for
mothers than fathers may reflect differences in parenting roles,
differences in the psychosocial impact of the cancer experience, or
less flexible work arrangements for female-dominated jobs,” she
said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2fimtnN Cancer, online November 21, 2016.
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