Psychosocial correlates of paediatric cancer in the United Arab Emirates

To study the psychosocial factors and illness variables associated with children's and parents' perceptions of and ways of coping with cancer, in 38 childhood cancer patients aged 5-15 years, coping was studied in relation to sociodemographic variables and self-perception in terms of competence, behaviour and self-worth. Less optimal coping was found to be associated with poor family communications and lack of sharing/expression of emotions (P=0.005), presence of behavioural and emotional problems in the child (P=0.008) and parental lack of hope (P=0.001). No association was found with gender, parental education or occupation, socioeconomic status, or child's self-perception including global estimation of self-worth. Furthermore, none of the illness variables was found to be associated with coping. Awareness about health-related issues was found to be strongly associated with parental education (P=0.000). Our findings suggest that parental hope and both social and family communication are integral to helping patients and families cope with the illness experience.