title: Pediatric psycho-oncology care: standards, guidelines, and consensus reports.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to identify existing guidelines, standards, or consensus-based reports for psychosocial care of children with cancer and their families.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Psychosocial standards of care for children with cancer can systematize the approach to care and create a replicable model that can be utilized in pediatric hospitals around the world. Determining gaps in existing standards in pediatric psycho-oncology can guide development of useful evidence-based and consensus-based standards.
  
  
  METHODS
  The MEDLINE and PubMed databases were searched by investigators at two major pediatric oncology centers for existing guidelines, consensus-based reports, or standards for psychosocial care of patients with pediatric cancer and their families published in peer-reviewed journals in English between 1980 and 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We located 27 articles about psychosocial care that met inclusion criteria: 5 set forth standards, 19 were guidelines, and 3 were consensus-based reports. None was sufficiently up to date, comprehensive, specific enough, or evidence- or consensus-based to serve as a current standard for psychosocial care for children with cancer and their families.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite calls by a number of international pediatric oncology and psycho-oncology professional organizations about the urgency of addressing the psychosocial needs of the child with cancer to reduce suffering, there remains a need for development of a widely acceptable, evidence-based and consensus-based, comprehensive standard of care to guide provision of essential psychosocial services to all patients with pediatric cancer.
authors.affiliation: NCI/NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wiener
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viola
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koretski
authors.forename: Emily Diana
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Perper
authors.forename: Andrea Farkas
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Patenaude
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D032921:Consensus; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011787:Quality of Health Care
keywords: consensus reports; guidelines; pediatric; psychosocial; standards