Aims:

The aims of this presentation are to 1) contrast coping of daughters whose mothers died from breast cancer to daughters whose mothers survived, and 2) view themes of daughter coping in the context of maternal and paternal behavioral patterns.

Methods:

Data were obtained from baseline interviews and assessment of 217 daughter caretakers who presented at the Revlon-UCLA High Risk Clinic. Associations among variables of interest were assessed separately for daughters whose mothers died and those whose mothers survived using partial correlations, controlling for age at interview and years since mother’s breast cancer diagnosis.

Results:

This presentation will focus on ten basic themes in the context of survival status of the mother. Examples themes include: 1) greater caregiving involvement was associated with higher levels of breast cancer-related grief in daughters whose mothers died (r=.426, 95% CI=.228.590, p<.001) and daughters whose mothers survived (r=.422, 95% CI=255.564, p<.001); 2) a positive paternal psychiatric history correlated with higher levels of grief for daughters whose mothers died (r=.292, 95% CI=.079.479, p=.007), but not in daughters whose mothers survived (r=.045, 95% CI=-.143.230, p-.634); 3) positive paternal psychiatric history also correlated with higher levels of mammography anxiety in daughters whose mothers died (r=.312, 95% CI=.097.499, p=.005), but not in those whose mothers survived (r=.006, 95% CI=-.202.213, 9=.955); 4) higher levels of family communication were associated with lower depressive symptomatology (daughters whose mother died, r=-.254, 95% CI=-.451-.034, p=.023; daughters whose mother survived, r=-.199, 95% CI=-.376-.008, p=.040) and anxiety symptomatology (daughters whose mother died, r=-.289, 95% CI=-.480-072, p=.009; daughters whose mother survived, r=-.242, 95% CI=-414-.053, p=.012) in both groups of daughters.

Conclusions:

Paternal behavioral patterns may exert greater influence on daughters whose mothers died, while maternal issues and history more greatly influence daughters whose mothers survived. Open family communication was shown beneficial for both groups of daughters.

This abstract could form part of Symposium proposal: “In sickness and in health”: Coping and needs of spouses and children caring for adult and older cancer patients, clinical observations and research data. Coordinator: Gil Goldzweig