Analysis of Present Situation and Influencing Factors of Coping Methods by Parents of Children with Central Nervous System Tumors

Background: Central nervous system (CNS) tumors are the most common solid tumors among children. Due to the severity of the tumors and the complexity of therapeutic regimes, it is very important to examine whether parents of the children with CNS tumors have positive coping methods against the disease. This study aims to analyze the coping methods of the parents and the factors influencing the methods. Methods: A total of 108 parents of brain cancer children admitted from January 2019 to September 2020 were selected as subjects. After collecting the general information of the parents, they were studied using the Coping Health Inventory for Parents (CHIP, Chinese version). Additionally, their coping pattern and the influencing factors were analyzed. Results: The average scores of the three subscales of the CHIP were (4.25 ± 0.939), (3.11 ± 1.205) and (3.60 ± 1.187), respectively. Univariate analysis showed that parents’ education, medical payment methods, places of residence and economic concerns were the main factors influencing the coping methods (all P < 0.05). Conclusions: Healthcare staff should fully evaluate the coping methods adopted by the parents having children with CNS tumors, take targeted nursing measures accordingly, and assist the parents in seeking social support and learning disease-related knowledge. In addition, public education on disease is equally important.

Asset Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing:Disaster-coping Strategies in Noncontiguous and Contiguous DestituteAreas

Do households sell assets in order to smooth consumption?The empirical evidence is mixed.Using household-and village-level data in the context of China's poverty alleviation policy,we analyze the relationship between climate shocks and household coping behaviors from the perspective of whether coping strategies to deal with weather shocks are sensitive to the contiguity of destitute areas.Our results indicate that,unlike households living in noncontiguous destitute areas,households struck by weather shocks in contiguous destitute areas tended not to reduce or liquidate assets.To overcome weather shocks,households in contiguous destitute areas instead reduced household consumption,such as food consumption and increased nonfarm working hours.Our findings point to the possibility that the implicit assumption of consumption smoothing coupled with a failure to incorporate explicitly the factor of contiguous regions has led to seemingly divergent findings in the literature regarding consumption smoothing.