The repercussions of child's cancer on parent's marital relation were investigated. A collective case study with four couples was carried out. Data were obtained from individual semi-structured interviews, conducted in the hospital, and submitted to a qualitative content analysis, whose categories were: cohesion, communication, and intimacy/sexuality. An increase in the cohesion between the parents was observed. In relation to communication, a predominance of topics related to the child's disease was observed. Among the men, silence about their own fears was observed. The intimacy/sexuality was affected by the anxiety about the child's survival. It was shown how child's cancer can intensify characteristics already present in the marital relation, and can also raise new challenges for the couple.
childhood cancer; marital relations; cohesion; communication; sexuality