title: Belgian siblings of children with a chronic illness: Is their quality of life different from their peers?
abstract: To assess Belgian siblings' self-reported quality of life (QoL) and the impact of illness on four different paediatric illnesses. Healthy siblings (n = 131) of children with type 1 diabetes, cancer, congenital heart disease (CHD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) completed the Child Health Questionnaire and the Sibling Perception Questionnaire. Results were compared to those of a matched group of siblings of healthy children. Siblings reported a good QoL, similar to controls, with the exception that siblings reported better on the QoL domain pain (p < .01). QoL was not related to time since diagnosis but the impact of illness was higher nearer to the time of diagnosis (r = -.39, p < .001). QoL of siblings of children with CHD or cancer was lower than QoL in the CF or type 1 diabetes group whilst impact of illness was highest for the CHD group. QoL of siblings of a child with a chronic illness is similar to the QoL of peers. Studies investigating siblings' QoL or the impact of illness on siblings should include the day-to-day demands of the illness as well as less obvious illness-related issues like 'hidden stress' and 'sense of control'.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Trudy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Havermans
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ilse De
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Croock
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Trui
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vercruysse
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eveline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goethals
authors.affiliation: Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium ilse.decroock@uzleuven.be.
authors.forename: Ilse Van
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Diest
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001530:Belgium; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms; D010379:Peer Group; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Chronic illness; impact of illness; quality of life; self-report; siblings