Résilience familiale : revue systématique des écrits qualitatifs sur le combat familial face au cancer pédiatrique
Childhood cancer is known to disrupt family life and have repercussions on every member of the family. Although numerous qualitative studies have examined the family’s experience and adaptation when confronted with childhood cancer, few have gone beyond descriptive results. Family resilience systemic theory (Walsh, 2006) describes different key processes that can foster resilience and family adaptation. With this theory in mind, a framework analysis (Booth, Papaioannou & Sutton, 2012) was conducted with the aim of integrating the existing qualitative literature on families faced with childhood cancer to facilitate the understanding of the family system’s experience of, and adjustment to, this major event. Results extracted from 13 articles show that childhood cancer poses major challenges to family resilience, disrupting family routine, triggering the questioning of belief systems, or forcing a family separation. Distinct key processes of family functioning are solicited by cancer, namely flexibility, connectedness, and financial and social resources. We can conclude that Family resilience systemic theory offers an integrated framework that allows a clear organisation of the literature for a systemic and global understanding of the family’s experience when faced with childhood cancer.
adaptation childhood cancer resilience family qualitative research systems theory