How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation
Introduction Mothers of terminally ill children experience chronic stress that can lead to physical and emotional exhaustion. A better understanding of their experiences, resources, and vulnerabilities can help plan psychological interventions. Objectives The research is aimed to study mothers’ a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2022-06-01
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| Series: | European Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S092493382200606X/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1827754928575086592 |
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| author | E. Bityutskaya N. Lebedeva |
| author_facet | E. Bityutskaya N. Lebedeva |
| author_sort | E. Bityutskaya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Introduction
Mothers of terminally ill children experience chronic stress that can lead to physical and emotional exhaustion. A better understanding of their experiences, resources, and vulnerabilities can help plan psychological interventions.
Objectives
The research is aimed to study mothers’ appraisals of their life situation related to the child’s terminal illness and their coping strategies.
Methods
Participants: 21 women (aged 26-49) whose children were patients at the hospice. Women answered a set of open-ended questions and completed questionnaires: “Appraisal Criteria of the Difficulty of a Life Situation”, “Types of Orientations in Difficult Situation”, “Ways of Coping Checklist”. Data were analyzed with Pearson’s r.
Results
Planned coping was associated with evaluations of opportunity (r=0.78) and threat to the future (r=0.61). Despite the deteriorating health status of most of the children, women reported a high degree of subjective control. This might be related to outside help. Participants stated that helping by the family, doctors, and psychologists was essential. Unexpectedly, the “need for a quick and active response” score correlates with that for the coping strategy “fantasizing” (r=0.62). This can be explained by the depletion of resources; deprivation of sleep and active rest is often observed. An important feature is that half of the participants report high self-blame.
Conclusions
We suggest that self-blame, an analysis of opportunities, and probable future scenarios are important psychotherapy targets for mothers of terminally ill children. The consequences of threat appraisal are twofold: admitting the threat can be painful, but it also mobilizes one’s energy. Funding: The study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-013-00838.
Disclosure
No significant relationships.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:57:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-05ba86da97044cd9af2ad320c1032c76 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:57:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-05ba86da97044cd9af2ad320c1032c762023-11-17T05:05:19ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Psychiatry0924-93381778-35852022-06-0165S234S23410.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.606How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situationE. Bityutskaya0N. Lebedeva1Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty Of Psychology, Moscow, Russian FederationMoscow Metropolitan Governance University, Diagnostics Department, Moscow, Russian Federation Introduction Mothers of terminally ill children experience chronic stress that can lead to physical and emotional exhaustion. A better understanding of their experiences, resources, and vulnerabilities can help plan psychological interventions. Objectives The research is aimed to study mothers’ appraisals of their life situation related to the child’s terminal illness and their coping strategies. Methods Participants: 21 women (aged 26-49) whose children were patients at the hospice. Women answered a set of open-ended questions and completed questionnaires: “Appraisal Criteria of the Difficulty of a Life Situation”, “Types of Orientations in Difficult Situation”, “Ways of Coping Checklist”. Data were analyzed with Pearson’s r. Results Planned coping was associated with evaluations of opportunity (r=0.78) and threat to the future (r=0.61). Despite the deteriorating health status of most of the children, women reported a high degree of subjective control. This might be related to outside help. Participants stated that helping by the family, doctors, and psychologists was essential. Unexpectedly, the “need for a quick and active response” score correlates with that for the coping strategy “fantasizing” (r=0.62). This can be explained by the depletion of resources; deprivation of sleep and active rest is often observed. An important feature is that half of the participants report high self-blame. Conclusions We suggest that self-blame, an analysis of opportunities, and probable future scenarios are important psychotherapy targets for mothers of terminally ill children. The consequences of threat appraisal are twofold: admitting the threat can be painful, but it also mobilizes one’s energy. Funding: The study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-013-00838. Disclosure No significant relationships. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S092493382200606X/type/journal_articlelife situationcoping strategiessubjective appraisal |
| spellingShingle | E. Bityutskaya N. Lebedeva How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation European Psychiatry life situation coping strategies subjective appraisal |
| title | How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation |
| title_full | How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation |
| title_fullStr | How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation |
| title_full_unstemmed | How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation |
| title_short | How mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation |
| title_sort | how mothers of terminally ill children cope and appraise their life situation |
| topic | life situation coping strategies subjective appraisal |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S092493382200606X/type/journal_article |
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