Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Adolescent Survivors of Childhood Cancer and Their Families: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), particularly intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and arousal, are among the most common psychological aftereffects of childhood cancer for survivors and their mothers and fathers. We conducted a randomized wait-list control trial of a newly developed 4-session, 1-day intervention aimed at reducing PTSS that integrates cognitive-behavioral and family therapy approaches--the Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program (SCCIP). Participants were 150 adolescent survivors and their mothers, fathers, and adolescent siblings. Significant reductions in intrusive thoughts among fathers and in arousal among survivors were found in the treatment group. A multiple imputations approach was used to address nonrandom missing data and indicated that treatment effects would likely have been stronger had more distressed families been retained. The data are supportive of brief interventions to reduce PTSS in this population and provide additional support for the importance of intervention for multiple members of the family.

Psychological effects of hematopoietic SCT on pediatric patients, siblings and parents: a review

“…Results from 150 families who participated in SCCIP show significant decline in both arousal and intrusive thoughts in survivors and parents. 62 SCCIP was amended to an intervention aimed at reducing post-traumatic symptoms of a caregiver dyad with a newly diagnosed child with cancer (SCCIP-ND). 63 SCCIP-ND is a three session cognitive-behavioral program for parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer, and it attempts to intervene early in the cancer experience to decrease traumatic stress symptoms by identifying beliefs regarding cancer and cancer treatment and how the cancer experience may affect family functioning.…”

Eficacia de intervenciones psicológicas dirigidas a promover el ajuste de niños con cáncer y de sus padres: una revisión

“…Concerning children's interventions (patients or cancer survivors), most of them (62.5%) produced mixed results (Barrera et al, 2002, Butler et al, 2008Kazak et al, 2004;McCaffrey 2006;Thygeson et al, 2010). The best results were obtained through the interventions proposed by Barakat et al (2003) and Valencia et al (2006), which could be classified as effective (25.5%).…”

“…Some studies have found high rates of PSTD symptoms in parents of children with cancer, ranging up to 60% when assessing the overall stress (Kazak et al, 2004, Robinson et al, 2009. In general, according to several studies, it could be stated that parents have more adjustment problems than their children (Phipps et al, 2006), as they present elevated levels of PTSD.…”

“…42.85% of the reviewed articles focused on interventions only for parents or caregivers (Hoekstra-Weebers et al, 1998;Kazak et al, 2005;Sahler et al, 2005, Schwartz & Drotar, 2004Streisand et al, 2000;Svavardottir & Sigurdardortti, 2005), while 35.71% were intended only for children / adolescents (Barakat et al, 2003;Barrera et al, 2002, Butler et al, 2008Hinds et al, 2000, McCaffrey, 2006. The remaining 21.43% approached both cohorts (parents and children), with joint or separate sessions (Kazak et al, 2004;Thygeson et al, 2010, Valencia et al, 2006. A summary of the most relevant outcomes of these studies is offered in Appendix 1.…”

“…This latter group received either standard care (Hoekstra-Weebers, Heuvel, Jaspers, Kamps & Slip, 1998;Kazak et al, 2005;Sahler et al, 2005;Streisand, Rodrigue, Houck, Graham-Pole & Berlant, 2000), a psychological placebo (Hinds et al , 2000, Schwartz & Drotar, 2004, or remained on the waiting list without treatment (Butler et al, 2008;Kazak et al, 2004). Six studies used a pre-post design without control groups (Barakat et al, 2003;Barrera, Rykov & Doyle, 2002;McCaffrey, 2006;Svavardottir & Sigurdardortti, 2005;Thygeson, Hooke, Claspsaddle, Robbins & Moquist, 2010;Valencia et al, 2006).…”