title: Psychosocial and emotional adjustment for children with pediatric cancer and their primary caregivers and the impact on their health-related quality of life during the first 6 months.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate caregiver-reported psychosocial adjustment and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) of Taiwanese children with newly diagnosed cancer and their caregivers during the first 6 months of treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Caregivers of 89 newly diagnosed children completed the child behavior checklist, the pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL(™) 4.0), the Parenting Stress Index, and the SF-36 questionnaire at diagnosis, and again 3 and 6 months into treatment. They were compared with a group of age- and sex-matched controls from general community.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly worse HrQoL in both children and their caregivers and greater parenting stress were noted in the cancer group than the controls during the first 6 months. Children with cancer were found to have significantly more internalizing behavioral problems and somatic complaints, especially those younger than 12 years old. After starting chemotherapy, significant decrease in parenting stress and improvements of both caregivers and children's HrQoL were noted within the first 6 months, although not to the level comparable with normal controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although children and their caregivers can adjust themselves gradually during the first 6 months after diagnosis of cancer, intervention and efforts aimed at reducing their distress and promoting adjustments are still required during this period.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. mingmin.tw@yahoo.com.tw
authors.forename: Ming-Horng
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Jen-Fu
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Wen-Jiun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Chao-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Tang-Her
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Jaing
authors.forename: Iou-Jih
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Hwey-Fang
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Hsuan-Rong
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yu-Shu
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D013997:Time Factors