Childhood cancer has a different impact on the employment of fathers and mothers

Mothers and fathers of children diagnosed with cancer have a financial impact in a variety of ways. As mothers ’incomes fall in the short term and then rise, fathers experience a negative financial impact later on. Researchers at Uppsala University have studied the socioeconomic impact on parents of having a baby with cancer. The study is published in the International Journal of Cancer.

Previous research has shown that when a child is ill with cancer, parents have a financial impact on finances as well as psychology. The available literature shows that mothers are more influential than fathers.

Data from a research project I have been working on since 2005, studying the same parents of children with cancer over a long period of time, show that fathers have a greater impact, in the long run, than the evidence suggests. previously confirmed. In the new study, we have examined the effectiveness of that data. “

Louise von Essen, Department of Women and Children’s Health, Uppsala University

Using registration data from Swedish public bodies, the researchers tracked nearly 4,000 fathers and nearly 4,000 mothers of an equal number of children diagnosed with cancer in Sweden when they were 0-18 years old, five years before and ten years after the judgment.

The findings show that childhood cancer in Sweden has a negative long-term impact on the employment of fathers and mothers. The long-term effects of employment are negative for fathers, and positive for mothers. Short-term adverse effects on employment have been found for fathers and strong short-term adverse effects for mothers. The long-term effects on employment are negative for fathers and mothers.

As to why the long-term income movement of the fathers was negative, the researchers will now examine this in detail. One theory they follow is that fathers usually go on to work while the children are sick, and therefore receive less support than mothers from the health care services. and personal networks together. In addition, this happens while the fathers are living under a heavy weight burden. This could lead to a significant drop in well-being among fathers, which in turn can have serious financial consequences.

“In our view, the findings of the study provide arguments for including mothers and fathers equally in the care of critically ill children, and for offering psychological support for the parents of all children with cancer, thereby reducing the risk of any group not receiving any support and, as a result, suffering adverse effects such as income lower in the long run, ”said the study’s first author, Mattias öhman from the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University.