Pediatric psycho‐oncology care: standards, guidelines, and consensus reports

Abstract

Objective To identify existing guidelines, standards, or consensus-based reports for psychosocial care of children with cancer and their families. Purpose Psychosocial standards of care for children with cancer can systematize the approach to care and create a replicable model that can be utilized in pediatric hospitals around the world. Determining gaps in existing standards in pediatric psycho-oncology can guide development of useful evidence- and consensus-based standards. Methods The MEDLINE and PubMed databases were searched by investigators at two major pediatric oncology centers for existing guidelines, consensus-based reports, or standards for psychosocial care of pediatric cancer patients and their families published in peer-reviewed journals in English between 1980 and 2013. Results We located 27 articles about psychosocial care that met inclusion criteria: 5 set forth standards, 19 guidelines and 3 were consensus-based reports. None were sufficiently up-to-date, significantly evidence-based, comprehensive and specific enough to serve as a current standard for psychosocial care for children with cancer and their families. Conclusion Despite calls by a number of international pediatric oncology and psycho-oncology professional organizations about the urgency of addressing the psychosocial needs of the child with cancer in order to reduce suffering, there remains a need for development of a widely acceptable, evidence- and consensus-based, comprehensive standard of care to guide provision of essential psychosocial services to all pediatric cancer patients.

Barriers to psychological care among primary caregivers of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

“…Online interventions may be particularly useful in circumventing this barrier, as such sessions could be completed by the parent at the child’s bedside. Improving caregiver participation in intervention research is important for evaluating the efficacy of interventions and moving towards evidenced-based standards of psychosocial care for families of children with cancer [33]. …”

Standards for the Psychosocial Care of Children With Cancer and Their Families: An Introduction to the Special Issue

“…Yet, there is a significant variability in psychosocial services offered to patients in different pediatric oncology settings. Furthermore, there are no published, comprehensive, evidence‐based standards for pediatric psycho‐oncology care . To address this critical gap, the Psychosocial Standards of Care Project for Childhood Cancer (PSCPCC), a group of pediatric oncology psychosocial professionals, collaborated with a larger interdisciplinary group of experts and stakeholders to develop evidence‐ and consensus‐based standards for pediatric psychosocial care.…”

Establishing psychosocial palliative care standards for children and adolescents with cancer and their families: An integrative review

“…The risks of not standardizing psychosocial palliative care include not knowing what therapeutic approach to use in clinical circumstances, not knowing the basis for psychosocial palliative care outcomes, not being able to explain one’s practice or outcomes, and misapplying a therapeutic approach that causes harm. 8 …”