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Journal of Pediatric Psychology 11(4) pp. 497-516, 1986
© 1986 Society of Pediatric Psychology

research-article

"Telling" the Child with Cancer: Parental Choices to Share Information with Ill Children

Mark A. Chesler, Jan Paris and Oscar A. Barbarin1

The University of Michigan

1All correspondence should be sent to Mark A. Chesler, Center for Research on Social Organization, 4028 LSA Building, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Parents of seriously ill children often struggle with the decision of whether and what to tell their child about the illness, treatment, and prognosis. Medical staffs, psychologists, and parents have advocated either "protective" or "open" approaches to this communication problem. This paper empirically investigated parents' choices regarding what to tell their child with cancer. Moreover, it analyzed several demographic and contextual correlates of the telling decision, stressing the importance of the child's age, sibling structure, parents' religious or existential orientation, and parental access to information and support for a particular approach. The family's initial shock at the diagnosis, changes in the child's medical condition, and the occurrence of uncontrollable events in the medical and social environment also influence what the child is told.

Key words: childhood cancer; telling children.


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