Oncology nursing forum
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Oncology nursing forum · Jan 1994
Comparative StudyBehavioral adjustment and self-esteem of school-age children of women with breast cancer.
To describe children's psychosocial adjustment to their mother's breast cancer and to compare their level of adjustment with normative data and with the level of adjustment of children of women with fibrocystic breast disease or diabetes. Hypotheses tested were (a) children of women with breast cancer would be most negatively affected and (b) families of mothers with fibrocystic breast disease would require less family adaptation than families of women with breast cancer or diabetes. ⋯ Findings are preliminary in nature, and other explanations for findings must be ruled out. However, if a child's self-appraisal is affected negatively by the mother's illness, it would be appropriate to identify ways to increase emotional and physical exchange with the child and to interpret inaccessibility in ways that protect the child's positive self-appraisal.