Stress Coping Among Siblings of Children with Chronic Health Conditions

Siblings of children with chronic health conditions (SCCHCs) are often exposed to potentially stressful situations (e.g., reduced attention). Stress coping behaviors may moderate the effects of stressors on quality of life of SCCHCs. However, there is only limited evidence for this mechanism. Person-centered approaches using clustering methods may map behavioral variance more accurately. The purpose of this study was to derive stress coping patterns of SCCHCs and investigate their associations with demographic measures and quality of life. 81 SCCHCs aged 6-16 were included. Their siblings had various conditions (e.g., 28% neoplasm/cancer, 14% developmental abnormalities). The German Coping Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents measured five stress coping behaviors. The KIDSCREEN-10 index measured quality of life. A hierarchical cluster analysis was followed by a non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis. Results were validated by latent profile analysis. Minimization, situation control, positive self-instructions, and need for social support correlated with quality of life. Cluster analysis yielded two stress coping patterns: high copers (37%) reported more frequent usage of all five coping behaviors compared to low copers (63%). Latent profile analysis widely confirmed this but indicated the possibility for more behavioral patterns. High copers were younger than low copers which may be explained by greater felt stress. The two patterns did not differ regarding quality of life. Follow-up analyses revealed that already using one coping strategy was beneficial rather than being a high coper overall. Interventions facilitating minimization, situation control, positive self-instructions, and need for social support coping strategies are suggested to promote wellbeing among SCCHCs

Illness perceptions in patients and parents in paediatric oncology during acute treatment and follow‐up care

Objective: Recent evidence suggests that illness perceptions in paediatric patients and their parents may differ, with parents holding more negative views compared to their children. Little is known about illness perceptions of very young patients and their parents. This study investigates illness perceptions in paediatric cancer patients aged 4–18 years and their parents in acute treatment or follow‐up care, distinguishing patients by age (4–11, 12–18) and stage of medical treatment. - Methods: N = 45 patient–parent dyads in acute treatment and n = 95 dyads in follow‐up care were examined. Parents and older children aged 12–18 years completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire—Revised (IPQ‐R) and younger children aged 4–11 years were examined using an age‐adapted hand puppet interview containing the IPQ‐R questions. Difference scores of illness perceptions (symptoms, timeline‐acute/chronic, timeline‐cyclical, personal control, illness coherence, consequences, emotional representations) between children and parents were tested for significance using Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests. - Results: Overall, parents perceived more symptoms associated with their child's illness/treatment than the children themselves. In acute treatment, younger children indicated more negative and older children more positive views regarding chronicity than parents. Younger children held less negative views on consequences, and all children reported less negative emotional representations than parents. In follow‐up care, all children held less negative views on consequences and emotional representations. Older children reported less negative views on chronicity, cyclicity and illness coherence. - Conclusion: Differences in illness perceptions of paediatric patients and their parents should be considered during and after treatment/medication and psychosocial care to support illness coping in person‐ and family‐centred interventions