Resilience in Parents of Childhood Cancer Survivors: Results From the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivors Study—Parents

ABSTRACT Background Resilience, or the ability to adapt, recover, and thrive under stress, is crucial for mental health, but remains understudied in parents of childhood cancer survivors (CCS‐parents). We aimed to: (a) describe the resilience of CCS‐parents, comparison parents (parents from general population), and the Swiss general population (SGP), (b) compare resilience of CCS‐parents and comparison‐parents, and (c) identify characteristics associated with resilience in CCS‐parents. Methods This is a cross‐sectional population‐based study including CCS‐parents who were identified through the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry, and comparison‐parents from a representative sample of the general population. Resilience was measured using the Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale (CD‐RISC). Linear regression was used to estimate differences between CCS‐parents and comparison parents, adjusting for confounders. Characteristics associated with resilience in CCS‐parents were identified through multilevel linear regression with parent couples clustered at the family level. Results Data from 468 CCS‐parents (mean age = 62.2 years; 58.5% female), 473 comparison parents (mean age = 62.1 years; 57.5% female) and 1246 individuals from the SGP (mean age = 48.9 years; 58.2% female) were analyzed. Mean resilience in the SGP was 72.2 (SD = 13.3). CCS‐parents had lower resilience (mean = 69.5; SD = 12.4) than in comparison parents (mean = 73.9; SD = 13.6; p < 0.001). Among CCS‐parents, better general health was associated with higher resilience ( p < 0.001), while living in French‐ or Italian‐speaking regions (vs. German‐speaking; p = 0.044) and higher levels of depression ( p = 0.001) were associated with lower resilience. Conclusion Our study supports the need to enhance resilience in parents of survivors, which may help to improve overall mental health and wellbeing of this population.