title: Effect of a group intervention for children and their parents who have cancer.
abstract: Although support programs for children whose parents have cancer have been described and evaluated, formal research has not been conducted to document outcomes. We adapted a group intervention called CLIMB®, originally developed in the United States, and implemented it in Tokyo, Japan, for school-aged children and their parents with cancer. The purpose of this exploratory pilot study was to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of the Japanese version of the CLIMB® Program on children's stress and parents' quality of life and psychosocial distress.
  
  
  
  We enrolled children and parents in six waves of replicate sets for the six-week group intervention. A total of 24 parents (23 mothers and 1 father) diagnosed with cancer and 38 school-aged children (27 girls and 11 boys) participated in our study. Intervention fidelity, including parent and child satisfaction with the program, was examined. The impact of the program was analyzed using a quasiexperimental within-subject design comparing pre- and posttest assessments of children and parents in separate analyses.
  
  
  
  Both children and parents experienced high levels of satisfaction with the program. Children's posttraumatic stress symptoms related to a parent's illness decreased after the intervention as measured by the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-Reaction Index. No difference was found in children's psychosocial stress. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy scores indicated that parents' quality of life improved after the intervention in all domains except for physical well-being. However, no differences were found in parents' psychological distress and posttraumatic stress symptoms.
  
  
  
  Our results suggest that the group intervention using the CLIMB® Program relieved children's posttraumatic stress symptoms and improved parents' quality of life. The intervention proved the feasibility of delivering the program using manuals and training. Further research is needed to provide more substantiation for the benefits of the program.
authors.affiliation: Section of Liaison Psychiatry and Palliative Medicine,Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences,Tokyo Medical and Dental University,Tokyo,Japan.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of South Carolina,Columbia,South Carolina.
authors.forename: Sue P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Heiney
authors.affiliation: Tokyo Kyosai Hospital,Tokyo,Japan.
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Osawa
authors.affiliation: St. Luke's International Hospital,Tokyo,Japan.
authors.forename: Miwa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.affiliation: Section of Liaison Psychiatry and Palliative Medicine,Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences,Tokyo Medical and Dental University,Tokyo,Japan.
authors.forename: Eisuke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matsushima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Children; Group intervention; Parental cancer; Posttraumatic stress; Quality of life