The Lived Experiences of Mothers Having children with Cancer: A Qualitative Study

There is the likelihood that cancer in children influences their growth and improvement. The mothers who have children with cancer and experience this hardness along with them play a highly significant role in this complexity. Researchers have considered these lived experiences in a limited way.

This qualitative study (phenomenology) was conducted in Mar 2019 among mothers who had children with cancer in Yazd. According to purposive non-random sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted on participants, and 13 subjects were then selected in order to achieve saturation. The data were analyzed using Dikelmann's 7-step method and MAXQDA 10 software in order to analyze data.

The concepts were first extracted and analyzed, 18 sub-categories were then obtained and eventually, 6 main categories including attitudes toward illness, desperation, psychical relief, multidimensional family problems, physician's attitudes, physical-psychological problems, were extracted.

Mothers experience pain along with the complex stages of their child who is seriously sick. Additionally, cancer bears many physical, mental, and psychological consequences for their children. It is possible to apply the results of this study in order to develop support strategies and provide services for mothers who have children with cancer as well as their children.