Table 3.

Variables associated with parents' ability to absorb information regarding their child's disease being incurable

	Parent able to absorb information	RR	CI	p value (χ2/Fisher)
How did you receive the information that your child's illness was incurable?
Physician	227/332 (68)	1.3	1.0–1.6
Info from other	17/26 (65)	1.0	ref.	0.828
Anxiety the year before your child's diagnosis
No	226/323 (70)	1.2	0.9–1.6
Yes	25/43 (58)	1.0	ref.	0.120
Depression the year before your child's diagnosis
No	227/323 (70)	1.3	1.0–1.8
Yes	23/43 (53)	1.0	ref.	0.035
Marital status at child's diagnosis
Married/cohabited with other parent	225/329 (68)	1.0	ref.
Married/cohabited with other	6/11 (55)	0.8	0.5–1.4
In a relationship	5/9 (56)	0.8	0.5–1.5
Single	17/23 (74)	1.1	0.8–1.4	0.583
Duration of illness
<1 year	90/127 (71)	1.1	0.9–1.3
>1 year	156/239 (67)	1.0	ref.	0.295
Type of cancer
Brain tumor	95/143 (66)	1.0	ref.
Leukemia	77/109 (71)	1.1	0.9–1.3
Sarcoma	61/87 (70)	1.1	0.9–1.3
Other	21/34 (62)	0.9	0.7–1.2	0.730
Was the information that your child's illness was incurable given in what you consider to be an appropriate manner?
Yes	201/258 (78)	1.6	1.3–2.0
No	53/110 (48)	1.0	ref.	<0.001
When did your child's curative treatment cease?
Last days	80/109 (73)	1.3	1.0–1.5*
Week–3 months	120/174 (69)	1.2	1.0–1.4
4 months–more than 3 years	50/85 (59)	1.0	ref.	0.090
Parent had someone to share their own problems with during the child's illness
Most to all	138/190 (73)	1.4	1.1–1.8
Less or more than half	83/122 (68)	1.3	1.0–1.7
None or almost none	29/56 (52)	1.0	ref.	0.013
When did you receive information that your child's illness was incurable?
Last week	45/69 (65)	1.0	0.8–1.2
2 weeks–3 months	122/170 (72)	1.1	0.9–1.3
4 months–more than 2 years	86/132 (65)	1.0	ref.	0.398