The Quality of Life, Depression and Anxiety Levels of the Parents Attending a Child Ill with Cancer

The treatment of cancer which is one of the chronical diseases of childhood is generally a long term treatment and most of the time it harms the physical and physcological situation and social side of the parents. The functionality, the distribution of roles and the relationship of the whole family is affected from this crisis. Therefore it can be said that cancer is a disease of family. This study is a descriptive study aimed to show the level of the quality of life, depression and anxiety levels of the parents attending a child ill with cancer. The study has been performed with the acceptance of the parents (n= 100) attending the child which are being treated in the Oncology and Haematology Service of a State Hospital in Istanbul. The public survey form and Beck Depression Scales, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Quality of Life Scale of Rolls Royce has been used as the tool of obtaining data. The data had been evaluated statistically by means of SPSS data base. The score of the sleep, appetite and sexual, perception, medical state and overall quality of men were significantly higher than women (p<0.01 and p<0.001); where the score of Beck depression and STAI trait anxiety of women were found to be significantly higher than men (p<0.05 and p<0.01). As a result of the study it was shown that the parents attending the child ill with cancer need psychological support as well as the patient children.