Abstract
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to (a) assess posttraumatic symptomatology and problem-solving ability in mothers following the diagnosis of cancer in their children; (b) examine sociodemographic and psychosocial variables associated with distress; (c) identify distinct subgroups of mothers whose population characteristics increase vulnerability to distress; (d) understand cultural influences of distress; and (e) highlight implications for future research following the deleterious effects of randomly occurring traumatic life events.
Methods: 307 English and 87 monolingual Spanish-speaking mothers at 7 national pediatric cancer sites were assessed just following their child's diagnosis (2–16 weeks). Primary outcomes included measures of mood disturbance, depressive symptoms, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress.
Results: Overall, Spanish-speaking mothers demonstrated significantly elevated negative affectivity and posttraumatic symptomatology and poorer problem-solving skills, even after consideration of differences in demographic variables. Regardless of language, mothers with lower formal education also exhibited similar symptomatology.
Conclusions: These findings uncovered two characteristics, preferred language and education level, which were significantly associated with level of distress and considerable differences existed between subpopulations. Results from this study can serve as an exemplar of a randomly occurring traumatic life event and have implications for response to trauma by populations with low formal education and low English proficiency. Understanding details of specific vulnerable cohorts and cultural influences of distress is extremely valuable to designing appropriate interventions and resource allocations, specifically among the fastest growing minority population in the United States. Future research should explore the utility of sociodemographic variables for predicting responses to trauma, concentrate on how cultural-competent care affects the use of health-related services, how populations view their mental health status, and how they seek and utilize psychological care services.
Second AACR International Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities— Feb 3–6, 2009; Carefree, AZ