Comparison of perceived parental empathy between adolescents with leukemia and healthy adolescents: A comparative descriptive study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare perceived parental empathy between adolescents with and without leukemia. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional, descriptive design. Thirty-eight adolescents with leukemia and 205 without, completed a self-reported questionnaire regarding their perceptions of parental empathy and general characteristics. For this comparative study, adolescents were selected through matched sampling, and 38 adolescents per group were used for analysis. Data were examined using independent t-tests. RESULTS: In terms of parental empathy, excessive emotional reactions and cold emotional reactions were perceived more frequently by adolescents with leukemia than healthy adolescents. Differences between the two groups were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Since parents caring for children with leukemia have an extra burden in caring for their children, these parents are continuously anxious about prognoses, and tend to feel guilty for their child's disease. Thus, healthcare providers need to develop a program for improving the ability of parents of cancer patients to demonstrate empathy, focusing on how to recognize and manage what may be perceived by their children as excessive or cold emotional reactions, and must take a role in communicating to parents how adolescents with leukemia perceive parental rearing behaviors and the impacts of these behaviors on their well-being.