Exploring children’s experiences of their parents non-terminal cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring children’s experiences of their parents' non-terminal cancer with a focus on trauma, resilience and attachment.
IRAS ID
197563
Contact name
Laura Tozer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Plymouth University
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
Children who have a parent diagnosed with a non-terminal cancer might struggle to cope and have needs that services are not able to address with the current state of knowledge. Little research has explored what it is like for a child whose parent has the illness and none have explored this using story telling.
Children aged between 9-18 years will be asked some questions to help understand the relationship they have with their parent. This age range has been chosen due to the resiliency questionnaire being suitable for children aged 9 and over. Following this, the child will be given a questionnaire typically given to children who have had a difficult experience and a questionnaire to measure resilience. Finally the child will be asked to tell the story of their parent’s illness. I will ask them some questions about what led up to the diagnosis, what has helped them understand the illness and how they have coped.
Tools from structural and thematic narrative analysis will be used to explore how children make sense of their parents’ illness.
Quantitative data gathered from the questionnaires will be used to see whether children have high/low resilience and symptoms of trauma. These results will be compared to the childs' attachment style and their narrative.
Results will be disseminated through a leaflet created for participating families and through a journal publication.REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0193
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion