An Ulster University report has highlighted the ‘devastation and whirlwind of emotions’ that parents experience when they are diagnosed with cancer and the importance of support offered by a local charity.
The report, written by Dr Cherith Semple and Professor Eilis McCaughan at the Institute of Nursing and Health Research in at Ulster University and the Ulster Hospital, evaluated the Cancer Focus Family Support Service.
It found that the service has significantly developed since it was set up over three years ago and is providing a much-needed service to parents and children following a parental cancer diagnosis.
The report also revealed a high level of satisfaction from people who used the service - 80% of those who responded to a survey said they would recommend the service to others.
The Family Support Service helps local families cope with the disruption to ordinary life and lessens the long term impact on children’s emotional well-being when a mum, dad or close family member has cancer.
It includes family bereavement groups, one-to-one support for a child or a family, and CLIMB (Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery), a group programme for children encouraging them to express feelings such as anger, anxiety, fear and sadness.
The service also helps parents write books, letters, create films and other memories for their children and families.
Currently one full-time member of staff and one part-time member support an average of 84 local families and 170 children per year.
Dr Cherith Semple and Professor Eilis McCaughan, the authors of the report,said: “The high satisfaction of the service from it susers is an indicator that the service is meeting the needs of both children and parents.
"The CLIMB programme, specifically, allowed children to learn factual information about cancer, benefit from peer support and gain strategies and techniques to deal with negative emotions surrounding parental cancer. For parents, it provided them with reassurance that their children’s emotional needs were being met.”
The report also acknowledged, however, that with an increasing number of people diagnosed with cancer, further developments in the health care system were essential to prepare and empower parents to cope with this particular aspect of their cancer.
Liz Atkinson, Head of Care Services, Cancer Focus NI, said: “We welcome the report’s findings. We were aware of the great need for extra support for families and set up the Family Support Service to offer them a lifeline during this difficult period in their lives. We will continue to strive to refine our service and bring it to even more families across Northern Ireland.”
A copy of the report can be downloaded from the Cancer Focus Northern Ireland website, www.cancerfocusni.org.
The Institute of Nursing and Health Research is one of three research institutes in Northern Ireland - all at Ulster University - which were ranked in the top three in their subject areas among UK universities in the last national assessment exercise.