Psychological Limbo as a Barrier to Spiritual Care for Parents of Children with Cancer: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Pediatric cancer causes reduced life quality and psychological problems for parents. It is necessary to pay attention to spirituality, which plays a significant role in increasing the life quality of these parents and their patient children and managing the conditions associated with the disease. This study was performed to determine factors predisposing to spiritual care in parents of children suffering from cancer. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted by conventional content analysis. Fifteen parents of children with cancer hospitalized in the oncology and hematology wards of governmental hospitals in Iran were selected using a purposive sampling method and underwent semi-structured deep interviews from 2015.1.10 until 2017.3.10. RESULTS: On data analysis, 12 subcategories emerged leading to extraction of three : “projection”, “mental concern”, and “psychological pains”. The final result was a focus on the theme “psychological limbo”. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that cancer induces psychological problems in parents, which may serve as factors that drive them towards spiritual affairs. Hence, attention should be paid to predisposing factors of spiritual care to facilitate tranquility and an ability to adapt to their circumstances in affected parents.