Interventions for children of parents with cancer from the time of cancer diagnosis through bereavement - a model to guide the field. (126274)
Sue E Morris
1
2
,
Paige Malinowski
1
,
Cristina Pozo-Kaderman
1
2
,
Joan W Hanania
1
2
,
Anna C Muriel
1
2
,
William F Pirl
1
2
,
Anna Dorste
3
,
Chloe Rotman
3
,
Greta J Khanna
1
2
,
Eileen Joyce
1
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Medical Library, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- This presentation will summarize recent empirical studies that examine the impact on minor children (0-18) following a parent's diagnosis with cancer through bereavement. Two separate systematic reviews were conducted identifying interventions – including a pre and post assessment of a child's psychological functioning - during a parent's illness or after their death. For the first review, 113 articles were reviewed at the full‐text level. Of those, 11 met study inclusion criteria. Thirteen validated measures were used. For the second review addressing bereavement, 49 articles were reviewed, and only one met criteria. This study included 20 children aged 7–12 years and two validated measures were used. Evidence‐based interventions for minor children whose parents have been diagnosed with cancer or who are bereaved during childhood are limited. Existing studies vary greatly making comparisons difficult. To standardize and move the field forward, we propose a model to guide the development of interventions for children whose parents have been diagnosed with cancer within a prevention lens. In this presentation, an ‘education, guidance, support and connection' model will be outlined that can be applied throughout the trajectory from diagnosis through bereavement. We strongly recommend that we create an international “think tank” of researchers, clinicians and stakeholders from both adult and pediatric psycho‐oncology to develop best practices for program design, measures used, and interventions, with a view to more standardization within the research literature throughout the cancer trajectory of an ill parent and into bereavement. Questions to consider include: What are the predictors of which children and adolescents will need intervention? How do we identify modifiable risk factors to inform interventions during both the parent's illness and the child's bereavement? and how do researchers collaborate with community-based groups to assess their programs? IPOS is a great starting point for such a "think tank".