title: Preliminary efficacy of a brief family intervention to prevent declining quality of life secondary to parental bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: The primary purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of a brief, cost-effective family-focused intervention to promote adaptive coping and quality of life throughout a parent's bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Targeted outcomes were cohesion, decreased use of avoidance coping, open communication and effective management of emotional distress. Participants included an intervention group of 31 families and 29 families in a control group who received usual care. Each family included the BMT recipient, a partner/caregiver and children 10-18 years old. The intervention included two dyadic sessions for the BMT recipient and the partner/caregiver, one individual session for the caregiver and two digital video discs (DVDs) for children. Statistical analyses indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on at least one aspect of the adaptation of each family member. Caregivers reported the most distress but benefitted least from the intervention, whereas recipients and children reported improvement in distress. Ratings of satisfaction/acceptability were high, with 97% responding that they would recommend the intervention to others. Plans for future research include increased intervention intensity for the caregiver, a larger more diverse sample and implementation over an extended period post BMT.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Fife
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Von Ah
authors.affiliation: Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Spath
authors.affiliation: University of Florida School of Nursing, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stump
authors.affiliation: Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farag
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D064591:Allografts; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires