Daughters’ lived experience of mother's cancer

Growing cancer in these decades and its effects on all aspects of a patientchr('39')s life causes more research on this illness. Research indicates the incidence of life-threatening illnesses especially in parents makes troubles in family memberchr('39')s life especially in childrenchr('39')s life. Considering the importance of the role of mothers on their childrenchr('39')s conditions with emphasis on girls, this research was aimed to understand the lived experiences of daughters who confronted the motherchr('39')s cancer. The method of the present study was qualitative of phenomenological type.  The sample consisted of 9 daughters who have a mother with cancer and their average age was 37, selected by purposive and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and then, the data was conducted verbatim and analyzed by interpretive phenomenological analysis (Smith and Osborn, 2007). 5 themes were identified: 1) types of reactions to mother’s illness: such as not being prepared to confrontation, considering cancer similar to death. 2) Shortage of social support: they deprived themselves of social support because of avoiding personal judgments about cancer and the patient or because of the patientchr('39')s insistence. 3) Experiencing emotions: such as grief, disappointment, guilt. 4) Coping strategies: like being connected to other people who were challenging to same trouble, expanding their awareness, doing spirituals. 5) Psychological burdens: fearing loss, sleep disorders, depression, and early shift on the daughterchr('39')s role to a caring one. According to the findings, it can be said that the lives of girls have been profoundly affected by their motherchr('39')s cancer and it is necessary to provide a supporting system for a family that has been faced with cancer.