Parental cancer: Factors associated with childrenʹs psychosocial adjustment — a systematic review

Objective en of cancer patients have an increased risk of developing psychosocial problems. But not all children are alike vulnerable to this stressful event. Thus, knowledge of risk and protective factors is required to design specific diagnostic tools and interventions for this vulnerable population. This study aims to provide a review and methodological evaluation of current studies examining factors associated with childrenʹs psychosocial adjustment when a parent has cancer. s atabases were systematically searched for quantitative research articles examining associative factors of childrenʹs adjustment. Study characteristics were analyzed and methodological quality was assessed by two independent reviewers. s dies examining associative factors in 2896 families were identified. The included studies used a broad range of instruments assessing childrenʹs adjustment. Most patients were female breast cancer patients with middle to high socio-economic status. The majority of included studies used correlational approaches and cross-sectional designs. None of the studies examined toddlers or assessed childrenʹs quality of life. Across studies with low to high quality, we found no evidence of illness-related factors, except worse disease status that was related to lower adjustment. Evidence from moderate to high quality studies suggest that better family functioning indicates better adjustment, whereas parentʹs depressive mood indicates worse adjustment of the children. Child-related factors were inconsistent. sion professionals should pay attention to cancer patientsʹ dependent children. In order to identify this at-risk population, parentʹs depressive mood and poor family functioning should be considered. Future studies should also assess childrenʹs quality of life and child-related factors.