Parental wellbeing following paediatric brain tumour and traumatic brain injury

Westgate, Briony (2019) Parental wellbeing following paediatric brain tumour and traumatic brain injury. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Aims: The thesis portfolio aimed to examine distress in parents of children with traumatic brain injury and parents of children with a brain tumour.

Design: The thesis portfolio consists of two main papers and several additional chapters. The first paper was a systematic review that examined emotional distress in parents of children with traumatic brain injury. The second paper was an empirical study that examined post-traumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with a brain tumour. The additional chapters included further information and provided an overall critique of the thesis portfolio.

Results: The systematic review indicated that parents of children with traumatic brain injury are more likely to experience emotional distress; this can be impacted by several factors, such as factors related to parents’ and children’s characteristics. The empirical paper suggested that a large proportion of parents of children with a brain tumour experience post-traumatic stress symptoms and indicated that disengaged coping may increase the risk of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Conclusions: The thesis portfolio demonstrated that parents of children with traumatic brain injury and parents of children with a brain tumour are at risk of emotional distress, even years after the initial event or diagnosis. The results suggest that the mental health of these parents should be considered in paediatric services and these parents should be provided with more support where necessary. Future research should explore parental mental health further with longitudinal designs and evaluate clinical interventions for parents affected by paediatric illness.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Depositing User:	Users 11011 not found.
Date Deposited:	28 Oct 2019 11:28
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2022 01:38
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/72794
DOI:

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