Comparative Analysis of the Perception of Family Functioning in Head of Families with and without Cancer Members during Illness.

Abstract

Abstract: Comparative analysis of the perception of family functioning in head of Families with and without cancer members during illness from it are increasing. Family functioning is affected by cancer diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to of the perception head of families about family functioning in families with and without cancer during illness. This research is a comparative study was conducted on two groups (families with a member of the cancer) and a control (family member without cancer). The samples of investigation are patients referred to the clinics and hospitals of Imam Khomeini, Taleghani and Omid of Iran. The number of samples in cases 148 and 176 in the control group. The sampling was used byconvenience sampling method. To collect the data, valid and reliable family functioning (FAD) was applied. This 60-item questionnaire has seven dimensions. To analyze were used Descriptive and analytical statistics. Analysis of demographic data showed that the mean age of patients with cancer is 55.26 (14.02), the age of the head of family in the case is 48.77 (15.20) and the mean age of control group was 45.21 (13.92). Among seven items of family functioning including : problem solving, communication, roles, emotional response, emotional involvement, behavior control and overall functioning, only differences between the average scores of the problem-solving among head of families with and without cancer was statistically significant. , It means that with exception of problem solving issue there were no differences among perception of head of family about family functioning in both group. Contrary to common perception of severe damage for family functioning in families with cancer member, results of this study indicate that family functioning of these families have no damaged at all. Only in problem-solving item, these families experience less problems than families without cancer patient So , it is recommended focusing more on the problem-solving item of these families and use this ability of families to resolve the multi-problems of families with members suffering from cancer