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Problem-focused coping and meaning-making facilitate adaptive functioning in families of children with cancerWays families find strength and cope during a child's cancer journey

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Key Takeaway
Note that problem-focused coping and meaning-making facilitate adaptive functioning in families of children with cancer.

This meta-aggregative synthesis examines the role of family resilience, coping strategies, and influencing factors in families caring for children with cancer. The study synthesizes qualitative evidence regarding emotional transformation, behavioral adaptation, and the impact of external support systems on family functioning.

Key findings indicate that families undergo a transition from initial fear and psychological disruption toward emotional adjustment and the reconstruction of hope. Behavioral adaptations include the redistribution of caregiving responsibilities and the restructuring of daily routines, which can strengthen family cohesion. The synthesis highlights that problem-focused coping and meaning-making facilitate adaptation, whereas avoidance and passive withdrawal are associated with weaker long-term outcomes.

While external support from healthcare professionals and peer networks is critical, factors such as financial strain and caregiving intensity may limit access to these resources. The authors suggest that family-centered interventions focusing on resilience-promoting coping and improved access to support systems may improve psychosocial outcomes in pediatric oncology. However, the findings are based on a qualitative synthesis of existing literature rather than clinical trials.

How this fits prior evidence

This finding addresses a gap in the holistic management of pediatric cancer by identifying specific psychological drivers of family resilience. While previous evidence noted that Cuba maintains a solid normative basis for pediatric palliative care despite training gaps, this synthesis provides specific qualitative insights into the coping mechanisms and emotional transformations required for long-term adaptation in these families.

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the entire family faces a period of intense emotional and mental stress. Parents and siblings often feel overwhelmed by fear, guilt, and uncertainty. However, many families eventually move toward a stage of acceptance where they begin to rebuild hope and find new meaning in their daily lives.

To manage these challenges, families often change how they live together. This includes reorganizing daily schedules and sharing caregiving duties more effectively. These changes can actually help the family stay close and support one another during difficult times. Taking active steps to solve problems helps them adapt better than avoiding the situation.

Outside help plays a big role in this process. Doctors, friends, and other families provide vital information and emotional comfort. While things like high costs or exhaustion can make it hard to get help, having a strong support network is key. Focusing on positive coping methods leads to much better long-term well-being for the whole family.

What this means for you:
Active coping and strong support networks help families adapt and find strength during a child's cancer treatment.

Common questions

What kind of emotional changes do families experience?

Families often start with intense feelings of fear, uncertainty, guilt, and helplessness. Over time, many go through a process of emotional adjustment. This leads to a reconstruction of hope and meaning as they learn to accept their new reality.

How do families change their daily lives during treatment?

Families often adapt by redistributing caregiving tasks among members, restructuring their daily routines, and strengthening their bond as a unit. These changes help them manage the demands of a child's cancer journey.

What coping strategies help families adjust best?

Focusing on solving problems and managing emotions helps families adapt better. In contrast, using avoidance or withdrawing from others is linked to weaker long-term adjustment for the family members involved.

Study Details

Study typeMeta analysis
EvidenceLevel 1
PublishedAug 2026
View Original Abstract ↓
BackgroundChildhood cancer imposes substantial psychological, social, and practical challenges on families, often disrupting emotional stability, caregiving roles, financial security, and family functioning. Family resilience has increasingly been recognized as a dynamic process that supports adaptation under prolonged adversity. However, qualitative evidence regarding how families develop and sustain resilience in the context of childhood cancer remains fragmented.ObjectiveThis qualitative systematic review aimed to synthesize existing qualitative evidence on family resilience among families of children with cancer and to identify key resilience processes, coping strategies, and influencing factors associated with adaptive family functioning.MethodsThis review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for qualitative evidence synthesis. Relevant studies were identified through systematic database searches using structured combinations of terms related to childhood cancer, family resilience, caregiving, and parental adaptation. Eligible qualitative studies were critically appraised using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Findings were synthesized using meta-aggregation to generate categories and broader synthesized findings.ResultsFour synthesized findings emerged. First, family resilience involved emotional and cognitive transformation, in which families initially experienced fear, uncertainty, guilt, helplessness, and psychological disruption, followed by emotional adjustment, acceptance, and reconstruction of hope and meaning. Second, behavioral adaptation and family reorganization represented critical resilience processes, including redistribution of caregiving responsibilities, restructuring of daily routines, and strengthened family cohesion. Third, external support functioned as an important protective factor in resilience development, with healthcare professionals, peer networks, and relatives providing emotional, informational, and practical support, although financial strain, caregiving intensity, and emotional exhaustion could limit access to such resources. Fourth, coping strategies employed by parents influenced resilience sustainability, with problem-focused coping, emotional regulation, and meaning-making facilitating adaptation, whereas avoidance and passive withdrawal were associated with weaker long-term adjustment.ConclusionsFamily resilience in childhood cancer should be understood as a dynamic and multidimensional adaptation process shaped by emotional transformation, behavioral reorganization, external support, and coping strategies. Family-centered interventions that strengthen resilience-promoting coping, improve access to support systems, and facilitate adaptive family functioning may enhance long-term psychosocial outcomes in pediatric oncology care.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024551729, identifier CRD42024551729
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