ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Clinical Psychology: Current Research, Emerging Therapies, and Future PerspectivesView all 12 articles
The Impact of illness perception on parenting concerns of breast cancer patients with minor children: mediating effects of fear of progression
Provisionally accepted
- Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China
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Objective: To examine the impact of illness perception on parenting concerns among breast cancer patients with minor children, specifically focusing on the mediating effects of fear of progression. Methods: A convenience sample of 315 female breast cancer patients with minor children were selected from the Breast Surgery Clinic at a tertiary women's and children's hospital in Guangzhou city between September 2023 and December 2024. Participants were surveyed using a general information questionnaire, Parenting Concerns Questionnaire (PCQ), The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ), and Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF). Multiple linear regression was applied to identify factors influencing parenting concerns, and structural equation modeling was used to examine the mediating role of fear of progression in the relationship between illness perception and parenting concerns. Results: The mean score for parenting concerns of breast cancer patients with minor children was 2.28 ± 0.83, illness perception mean score was 40.14 ± 11.51, and fear of progression mean score was 34.50 ± 8.74. Correlation analysis suggested that parenting concerns were positively correlated with both illness perception and fear of progression (P<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the age group of the youngest child, illness perception, and fear of progression were independent factors influencing parenting concerns. Moreover, women who viewed their illness more negatively also reported more parenting concerns, and about 18.18% of this relationship was explained by fear of progression. Conclusion: Patients with breast cancer generally experience varying degrees of parenting concerns for their minor children. Illness perception directly predicts parenting concerns, and also indirectly predicts them through the mediating effects of fear of progression. Healthcare providers should pay attention to the parenting concerns of breast cancer patients with minor children and use proactive psychological interventions and comprehensive support systems to correct negative disease perceptions, reduce fear of progression, and effectively alleviate parenting concerns, thereby improving psychological adaptation and family functioning.
Keywords: breast cancer, Fear of progression, illness perception, Mediating effect, Minor children, Parenting concerns
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Liang, Pang, Lin and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wenli Liang
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