Exploring the Content of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms among Parents after Paediatric Stem Cell Transplant

In the present study the aim was to explore the content in a trauma reported in a self-report questionnaire by parents of children with a life threatening illness. Semi-structured interviews were performed, with the aim to explore the specific cognitive and behavioral content of the trauma related symptoms reported by the individual informant. The transcripts of the interviews were analyzed with content analysis using a direct approach with a-priori categories according to the B and C categories of the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The results give us the picture of a complex situation, where the self-report instrument PCL captured a spectrum of qualitatively different cognitions. The parents described traumatic thoughts and images relating not only to experiences in the past (i.e., truly post-traumatic), but also to current stressors and expected future events.