Direct and Indirect Signs of a Parent With Holding Information About a Child’s Serious Illness

Abstract

The relevance of studying the experience of traumatic stress caused by a life–threatening disease, acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, is due to the frequency of this disease in childhood and a marked violation of the level of psychological well-being of the child and his parents. One of the features of interaction in the child–parent dyad is the high frequency concealment of information about the disease from the child. The purpose of the study is to analyze the correlation between the level of post–traumatic stress of a child with a history of life-threatening illness and the perception of the child’s experiences by an adult, with the child’s self-esteem and the parent’s attitude towards him. Hypothesis: The level of post-traumatic stress experienced by a child diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is correlated with their self-esteem, the parental assessment of their condition, and varies in accordance with the child’s level of awareness regarding the disease. The methodological basis of the research is the principle of systemic interaction between a child and an adult, the principle of delayed reaction to a stressful event, and the principle of continuous mental functioning. Research Base: D. Rogachev Federal State Budgetary Institution for Scientific Research and Medical Research, and the Medical and Rehabilitation Center “Russkoe Pole”. Sample: children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 19 people, 9 boys and 10 girls) aged 10–16 years and their mothers (average age 46 years). Methods: Differential Personality Assessment (DPA), Semi-structured clinical interview to identify signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children, and Parental Questionnaire to evaluate traumatic experiences of children. Results: there were no differences between children in terms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depending on the concealment of information about the disease from the child. It has been shown that delayed intense stress depends on the child’s level of self-esteem and his activity (openness to communication) and does not depend on volitional regulation. The parent’s perception of a child (LD methodology) as an indication of disclosing information about a condition is closely related to levels of PTSD and depends on the correlation between assessments of a child and a parent. Conclusion: The child’s experience of post-traumatic stress is not directly related to whether parents hide medical information from them. Instead, it depends on how the child feels about themselves, how the parents feel about the child, and how well the child’s stress symptoms match the parents’ perception of their stress levels.