title: Screening for psychological well-being in childhood cancer survivors: a preliminary assessment of the feasibility of the strength and difficulties questionnaire as a parent-proxy report.
abstract: This article describes the feasibility of utilizing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a brief psychosocial screener among survivors of pediatric cancer. Participants were parents of a child/adolescent diagnosed with cancer who were off treatment (n = 35) and a subset of adolescents (n = 14). Parent-proxy report using the SDQ was significantly associated with the Child Health Questionnaire. Parents who self-reported long-term uncertainty about their child's illness were more likely to report child psychosocial difficulties. A trend for concordance between patient and parent-proxy report of the SDQ was observed. These preliminary results highlight the potential utility of the SDQ as a screening tool for detection of child/adolescent psychosocial well-being. Further research, with larger samples, is needed to support these results.
authors.affiliation: a Murdoch Children's Research Institute , Parkville , Victoria , Australia.
authors.forename: Lauren K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Drew
authors.forename: Cinzia R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Deluca
authors.forename: Maria C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: McCarthy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D019727:Proxy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*