Characterizing Lone Parenting: A Multi-Institutional Pilot Study of the Perceptions of Support and Perceived Stress of Lone Parents of Children With Cancer

Background:

• Research examining the potential impact of childhood chronic illness on parents and families has delineated a myriad of stressors that parents may experience, including financial stress, role strains, separations, interruptions in daily routines and plans for the future, and general uncertainty regarding the child s prognosis.
• All of these possible experiences may lead directly and indirectly to anxiety, depression, posttraumatic-stress, hopelessness, and feelings of loss of control in parents and families.
• The number of families headed by single, or lone parents has increased significantly, with 3 in 10 children now living in single parent homes.
• It is not known whether distress is greater for parents who are lone parents.
• Lone-parent families earn on average only 55% of what married-parent families earn, and are four times more likely to live in poverty.
• It is unclear how lone parents trying to navigate the complex needs of maintaining a home, family, and a chronically ill child adapt to these challenges.
• It is also unclear how many parents who check single on a standardized forced choice questionnaire format consider themselves to be lone when it comes to the experience of caring for their child with cancer.

Objective:

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• Aim 1: To define and characterize lone parents
• Aim 2: To describe perceptions of social support and how they relate to lone and non-lone parenting
• Aim 3: To identify distress outcomes in parents of children with cancer who identify themselves as being lone when it comes to the experience of caring for a child with cancer