Application of the Technology Model of intervention fidelity could advance the maturation of nursing intervention research and evidence-based clinical practice.

YA survivors are interested in receiving an MSC videoconference intervention. Feasibility, acceptance, and potential psychosocial benefits of the intervention were demonstrated. Findings can be applied toward the design of an efficacy randomized controlled trial to improve quality of life for YA survivors in transition after cancer treatment.

No abstract

There is a need for better understanding of how parents perceive their involvement in the care of their critically ill child, additionally; the IPFCC core concepts should be refined to explicitly include the importance of the environment of care.

Developing skills for home-based caregiving of long-term conditions is a challenging and uncertain process. Both parents often participate in caregiving, and the findings reported here may help professionals decide how best to support both parents in their home-based caregiving.

Context FathersÕ contributions to the management of long-term childhood medical conditions are under-represented in the literature; therefore, the full extent of their involvement is poorly understood by practitioners and researchers, so strategies for promoting their involvement have not yet been fully considered.Objective To review studies of fathersÕ actual contributions in a wide range of conditions, the potential to optimize their contribution through additional interventions by health professionals and a direction for future research.Design Narrative review of the literature.Methods CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo and ERIC databases were searched electronically between the years 1995-2008. The terms adherence, adjustment, child, chronic, compliance, concordance, condition, coping, disease, father, illness, information, long-term, management ⁄ intervention, mother, role, self-care and treatment were searched for separately and in combination. English language papers reporting primary research were selected and supplemented by handsearching reference lists. Thirty-five papers (arising from 29 studies) met criteria and were selected for narrative review.Results Five themes were identified: (i) the impact of long-term conditions on fathersÕ ability to promote their childÕs well-being, (ii) factors influencing fathersÕ involvement in health care, (iii) personal growth ⁄ beneficial effects for fathers, (iv) the impact of fatherÕs involvement on family functioning and (v) strategies that increase fathersÕ participation in their childÕs health care and in research investigating fathersÕ participation.Conclusions The review suggests that fathersÕ involvement in childrenÕs health care can positively impact on fathersÕ, mothersÕ and childrenÕs well-being and family functioning. A range of strategies are identified to inform the promotion of fathersÕ contributions and future research investigating their input.

The literature indicates support for the theoretical link between parental uncertainty and posttraumatic stress. This linkage provides direction for the design and evaluation of nursing interventions to support parents of children with serious childhood illness.

The purpose of the study was to describe relationships between uncertainty, anxiety, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS) in parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer. The study was guided by the Uncertainty in Illness Theory. The setting was a children's hospital. Participants were 15 parents of 12 children recently diagnosed with cancer. Anxiety was measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Uncertainty was measured by the Parent Perception of Uncertainty Scale. Symptoms of PTS were measured by the Reaction Index. Total scale scores were calculated and psychometrics estimated. Differences in uncertainty, anxiety, and symptoms of PTS by parent race were assessed using analysis of variance. The correlation matrix was estimated to assess relationships between variables. The level of uncertainty was lower than expected, but was significantly higher for black parents (p < .001). The level of anxiety was comparable to that for hospitalized persons with anxiety disorders. The level of symptoms of PTS was higher than reported for parents of childhood cancer survivors. The relationship between anxiety and symptoms of PTS was significant (r =.56, p < .02). Pediatric oncology nurses should offer parents interventions to relieve high levels of anxiety and symptoms of PTS; some parents could also benefit from interventions that target uncertainty.