Stress and coping strategies among parents of children with cancer at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital paediatric oncology unit, Ethiopia: a phenomenological study.

The main causes of stress identified by parents of children with cancer in Ethiopia were the severity of their child's illness, expectations of poor treatment outcomes, unavailability of cancer treatment services and lack of social/financial support. Measures that should be considered to reduce parents' stress include providing psycho-oncological care for parents and improving the counselling available to parents concerning the nature of the child's illness, its treatment, diagnostic procedures and treatment side effects. It may also be helpful to establish and strengthen family support groups and parent-to-parent communication, improve the availability of chemotherapy drugs and offer more education on coping strategies.