Bone Marrow Transplantation from a Parental Perspective

The present study focuses on the parents of the first group of children in Sweden to receive a bone marrow transplant and survive. Its aim was to get in-depth knowledge of the parents' situation during this critical time. The result of 10 years of research (1988-98), the study deals with the situation to which the parents had to adapt and the strategies that they used to handle their situation within a long-term perspective. Two series of qualitative interviews with the parents of 20 children who had undergone bone marrow transplantation were carried out. A self-report questionnaire for coping was also used. The result shows that the child's illness and treatment played an important role in the parents' lives for many years. Those parents who managed to put reason before emotion rated their coping as better. A sense of participation was also a useful coping strategy.