Parenting concerns, parental identity and functional status influence medical treatment decisions of patients with advanced cancer

Commentary on: Park EM, Check DK, Song MK, et al. Parenting while living with advanced cancer: A qualitative study. Palliat Med. 2017;31:231–238.

Implications for practice and research

Parents with advanced cancer would benefit from having clinicians engage in explicit discussions regarding their needs, concerns and plans pertaining to parenting as end-of-life gets nearer.

Future research also should explore some of the positive aspects that may come with parenting while experiencing advanced stages of cancer (eg, concepts of gratitude, emotional closeness and closure, and post-traumatic growth).

Context

The extant literature suggests that parents with advanced cancer with dependent children are prone to higher psychological distress than those without. Past studies have mainly focused on parents with early-stage cancer communicating information about their diagnosis to underage children.1 2 Few have explored the realities of raising children while coping with advanced cancer and its effect in the context of palliative and end-of-life care....

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