Parenting concerns among patients with cancer: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Objectives This qualitative meta-synthesis aimed to interpret how cancer patients experience and manage parenting concerns, and to identify implications for family-centered psychosocial care. Design A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted. Methods PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EBSCO, ProQuest, China Science and Technology Journal Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Database were searched from inception to April 2025. Qualitative studies published in Chinese or English were included. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research. Data were synthesized using thematic synthesis. Results Thirty-seven studies were included. Three analytical themes were generated: disrupted parental identity and layered threat appraisal under cancer-related uncertainty; protective parenting and family adaptation as relational resources; and unmet multidimensional needs for family-centered and developmentally tailored care. Together, these themes showed that parenting concerns among cancer patients involved not only emotional distress and perceived threats to children, but also protective efforts, meaning-making, family adaptation, and unmet needs for practical, communicative, informational, and psychosocial support. Conclusion Parenting concerns among cancer patients represent a dynamic, relational process in which cancer-related uncertainty disrupts parental identity, activates layered threat appraisals about children and family continuity, and may also mobilize protective parenting and family adaptation. These findings suggest that oncology care should move beyond individual distress management and incorporate routine assessment of parenting concerns, developmentally appropriate parent–child communication support, practical caregiving assistance, family-level psychosocial referral, and genetic counseling when hereditary risk is relevant. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023424201 , identifier CRD42023424201.