Open access

24th European Health Psychology Conference
1-4 september 2010, Romania
Deadline for Early Registration: 15 May 2010
Abstract
 Title - This should not exceed 20 words.
 Author
 Body Text - This should not exceed 200 words.
Please use the following format:
The text of the abstract should include:
 OBJECTIVES. A statement of the purpose of the study (preferably
in one sentence).
 METHODS. A brief description of the methods used in the study.
 RESULTS. A summary of the results obtained in sufficient detail.
 CONCLUSIONS. Theoretical and/or practical implications of the study.
Track name under which the abstract is being submitted
Conference Tracks
1. Self-Regulation, including Illness Perceptions
o Contributions related to goal or self-regulation theory, including the
common sense model
The influence of children’s and parents’ illness perceptions on paediatrics
cancer patients’ quality of life
Fonseca, M., Missotten, P., Etienne, A.M., Dupuis, G., Lemétayer, F. & Spitz, E.
OBJECTIVES: The current study aims to explore children’s with cancer and
parents’ illness perceptions and their impact on children’s generic and modular
quality of life (GQoL/MQoL). METHODS: Children with cancer aged from 8 to 12
years old (N=39) and their parents (N=39) completed the Brief Illness Perception
Questionnaire (Broadbent et al., 2006) and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The
Quality of Life Systemic Inventory for Children - Module for Cancer (Missotten et
al., 2008) was also administered to children. RESULTS: Concerning dimensions of
cancer perceptions, “consequences” reported by children and “personal control” by

parents are significant predictors of the children’s GQoL: they explain 42% (β=.66;
p=.00) and 12% (β=-.32; p=.05) of the variance, respectively. Children’s
perceptions about illness “consequences” and parents’ perceptions about illness
“implications” are significant predictors of the children’s MQoL, explaining 52%
(β=.73; p=.00) and 11% (β=.37; p=.02) of the variance, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the hypothesis that children’s and parents’
cancer perceptions may have a different impact on children’s QoL. A better
knowledge about the influence of children’s and parents’ illness perceptions on QoL
contributes to design intervention to promote QoL among paediatric cancer
patients.