Health Anxiety by Proxy in Parents v2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
HAPP Study (Health Anxiety by Proxy in Parents): A study investigating health anxiety by proxy in parents of children with cancer, and parents of children without a chronic or serious diagnosed physical or mental health problem
IRAS ID
301753
Contact name
Francesca Cocks
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 28 days
Research summary
Research Summary:
This research will investigate the thoughts and feelings a parent has about their child’s health and worries that their child is unwell, known as Health Anxiety by Proxy (HAP).Research question: What key factors are important in understanding health anxiety by proxy (HAP) in parents of children with cancer, when taking into account level of contact and involvement with the child?
The findings from this research will be used to help people support parents to worry less, which may also stop the child from having similar worries now and in the future. The aim of helping parents to worry less is that the child will have less tests at the doctors or hospital, which could make the child’s life better as some of the tests may be painful.
There are a number of reasons why a parent may be worried about their child’s heath, which is important for us to understand. Some of the reasons may be worries about their own health, fear that if their child is unwell that their illness may not be treated or may return, amount of support from other people and things related to their child’s illness, e.g. type of cancer, treatment etc. This research will also look into differences between mothers and fathers, when recognising the amount of time the parent spends with the child every day, and whether the child has cancer or not.
Participants will be parents who will be recruited from Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), Cancer charities, Parent support groups, University of Bath email community and Community spaces.
Parents will be asked questions via Qualtrics about worries they have about their child, which should take between 20-35 minutes.
Summary of Results:
Parents with higher level of anxiety about their own health had higher levels of anxiety about their child’s health than parents with lower levels of anxiety. Parents of children with cancer had higher levels of anxiety about their child’s health than parents of children who were generally physically and mentally well.More research is needed to explore other factors that may be influencing parents anxiety. Understanding more from studies over a long period of time would benefit researchers and professionals to know how the anxiety parents have about their child’s help presents over time.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/WM/0115
Date of REC Opinion
28 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion