Parental Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Risks Associated With Opioid Use in Children With Cancer

This study investigates parents' attitudes and beliefs on the risks of opioid use in children with cancer. Pain is the common symptom reported by pediatric cancer patients. Opioids are the mainstay in the treatment of cancer-related pain. Despite an almost universal desire to prevent or mitigate pain in their children, parents exhibit complex behaviors from withholding prescribed opioids entirely to giving less than the prescribed analgesic dose of opioid to discontinuing despite ongoing pain. Information gathered from this study may help address a crucial knowledge gap in researchers' understanding of parental attitudes and beliefs regarding the risks associated with opioid use in children and adolescents.

Inclusion Criteria: * Parents must be at least 18 years old * The parent must be able to understand, read, write, and speak English * The parent must provide verbal informed consent * The child of the parents must be 18 years old or younger * The child must have a diagnosis of cancer Exclusion Criteria: A non-cancer diagnosis (neurofibromatosis, Li-Fraumeni syndrome for example).