Factores psicológicos y sociales en las neoplasias malignas pediátricas

this research was conducted to assess some psychologic and social factors in families with children with malignant neoplasia. a cross-sectional and correlation study was performed in a group of 38 mothers of patients aged 0-18 months, who were seen in “juan manuel márquez” children hospital, in marianao, in june and july 2005. the following techniques were applied: family performance perception test (fppt), social support questionnaire (ssq), and confrontation scale (cs). the information obtained was processed by means of the spss statistical program in its version for window 98. the results showed that most of the families were functional, and that mothers needed a lot of social support, mainly of emotional support. it was concluded that there was no dependence between the family functioning and the variables which with it was related; most of the mothers felt satisfied with the social support received, and the confrontation strategies they used the most were to focus their attention on the positive, and to worry and concentrate themselves on solving the problem.