Investigation on the Burden of Care of the Mothers of Children with Cancer in Tabriz Pediatrics Treatment and Educational Center in 2013

Abstract

Introduction: Approximately seventy five percent of the children suffering from cancer reach to dieses free surviv- al that is resulted from developed treatment. The children cancer has different effects on the family members. Since, looking after of the children with chronic diseases such as cancer could place much burden on the parents particularly mothers. This paper investigates and compares the objective and subjective dimensions of mothers’ care. Materials and methods: Mothers of 150 children with cancer in age range of 8-16 participated in this study. The study was conducted in Tabriz Pediatrics treatment and educational center. The CMCC questionnaire of time and efforts of caretaking activity was used for measuring burden of care. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics in software spss version 13. Results: The mothers’ burden of care was higher than medium. In physical, caretaking and emotional dimensions the burden of care was higher than medium and it was less than medium in attendance dimension. Discussion: The findings put emphasize on the effect of the children cancer on their moth- ers. So, interventions could be useful in reducing burden of care by concentration on support of the mothers and meeting their caretaking needs.