title: Systematic Review: Family Resilience After Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A systematic review was conducted to (1) investigate family resilience in the context of pediatric cancer, and (2) examine theoretical, methodological, and statistical issues in this literature. Family resilience was operationalized as competent family functioning after exposure to a significant risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following guidelines for systematic reviews, searches were performed using Web of Science, Pubmed, Cochrane, PsycInfo, and Embase. After screening 5,563 articles, 85 fulfilled inclusion criteria and were extracted for review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings indicated that most families are resilient, adapting well to the crisis of cancer diagnosis. However, a subset still experiences difficulties. Methodological issues in the current literature hamper strong nuanced conclusions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest future research with a greater focus on family resilience and factors predicting it, based on available theory, and conducted with attention toward unit of measurement and use of appropriate statistical analyses. Improvements in research are needed to best inform family-based clinical efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, marieke.vanschoors@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Marieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Schoors
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Centre for Pain Research, National University of Ireland Galway.
authors.forename: Line
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caes
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
authors.forename: Lesley L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Verhofstadt
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
authors.forename: Liesbet
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goubert
authors.affiliation: Center for Healthcare Delivery Science, Nemours Children's Health System, and Department of Pediatrics, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alderfer
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D055500:Resilience, Psychological
keywords: adaptation; family; oncology; pediatric cancer; resilience; systematic review