Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine 1990;11(4):1-11.
Published online April 1, 1990.

질병이 가족에게 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 - 백혈병 환아의 부모에 대한 GHQ 및 Family APGAR 결과를 중심으로 - (A Study on Impact of Illness on the Family The Application of General Health Questionnaire & Family APGAR to Parents of Childhood Leukemia Patient

허봉렬(Yul Bong YUl),김창엽(Kim Chang Yeop),서홍관(Seo Hong Kwan),황인홍(Hwang In Hong),박훈기(Hoon Ki Park),박희순(park Heul Soon),김용은(Kim Yong Eun)

서울대학교병원 가정의학과

Abstract

This study was performed in order to measure the psychiatric effects of childhood leukemia on patient's parents by the use of GHQ and it's effects on the family function by the use of family APGAR.
Responses to self-administered questionnaire, which were given to 105 childhood leukemia patients and 123 parents of control group, were analysed.
The results were as follows ;
1) The study group had average GHQ score of 11.3±5.7, which was significantly higher than that of control group(6.9±5.0)(p<0.01). The difference was significant in all 4 subscales of somatic symptoms, anxiety & insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression(p<0.01).
2) The study group had average family APGAR score of 7.0±2.4, which was not statistically different from that of control group(7.5±2.0). The difference was only significant in 2 subscales, adaptation and growth(p<0.05).
3) By age in case group, GHQ score was highest in fifth decade(14.1±3.8), followed by fourth decade(11.0±6.1) and third decade(8.3±4.0). The difference was significant in 2 subscales, somatic symptoms and anxiety & insomnia(p<0.05).
4) In case group, female had higher GHQ score(11.5±5.5) than male(8.7±6.8), though it was statistically not significant. Only in subscale of somatic symptoms, score of female was higher than that of male(p<0.05).
5) In case group, variables that influence on the GHQ scores were patient's age, economic burden with treatment payment, expectation of the outcome of treatment, method of treament(admission vs. out-patient follow-up), relationship between patients and parents(p<0.05).
6) In case group, family APGAR scores were higher in highly educated group and in higher income group(p<0.01).
In conclusion, the GHQ score of patient's parents were higher than that of control group, which suggest that. There would be relatively high psychiatric morbidity in patient's parents.