Coping strategies of parents of children receiving home care in a palliative care unit

Abstract

Objective: To identify stressful situations reported by parents of pediatric palliative care patients, evaluate the coping strategies used, and explore whether there are gender differences. Method: A sample of 42 parents of patients receiving home care between January and December 2022 was used. The Spanish adaptation of the Coping Strategies Inventory was administered in a telematic format. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 22.0,
employing the Student’s t-test and the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. Results: The identified stressful situations are: illness (30.95%), family difficulties (19.04%), loneliness (14.28%), overload (9.52%), caregiving (7.14%), social environment (7.14%), work area (4.76%), bad news (2.38%),
healthcare environment (2.38%), and general health of the caregiver (2.38%). The most frequently used strategy is problem-solving (mean 16.31) and the least used is problem avoidance (mean 5.4). There are no statistically significant gender differences except in social withdrawal (p=0.04) and
self-criticism (p=0.03), which are more frequently used by women. Conclusion: Understanding families’ coping strategies will facilitate the adaptation of psychological interventions to their needs. The main stressors are related to caring for a seriously ill child. Parents most frequently
employ adaptive coping strategies focused on problem-solving. The statistically significant differences found in social withdrawal and self-criticism related to gender are relevant when it comes to preventing overload in mothers.