The infant cancer (leukemia): meanings of some maternal experiences

Resumo

The present study intended to characterize the social and emotional repercussions of the diagnosis and the treatment of the child with cancer (leukemia) in the mothers, during hospital stay. The descriptive-exploratory method was used, with the qualitative approach, according to the Collective Subject Speech (CSS) model. The results showed that the main difficulties experienced by the mother related to the illness and the hospitalization process of her child, highlighting the diagnosis impact, which were the fear related to the possibility of losing her child and the distance from the social and familiar daily life. It was possible to conclude that cancer in children brings an intensive suffering for the family, due to the changes and privations that happen in the familiar, social and love life of the mother which causes intense sufferin.