Department of Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Psychology Section, University of Milan, Italy.
Cancer Nurs. 2012 Jan-Feb;35(1):E42-50. doi: 10.1097/NCC.0b013e3182182869.
The siblings of children with neoplastic disease are at risk of emotional and behavioral problems, but few studies have focused on these risks, and findings across studies are inconsistent.
The objective of this study was to assess psychological adjustment in siblings of children with cancer and analyze the impact of several moderating variables.
Parents of children with cancer completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) on their healthy offspring (n = 30, aged 4-18 years), and a semistructured interview on potential risk factors to their child's adaptation. Child Behavior Checklist scores were compared with those of a control sample of the same age (n = 33).
Contrary to expectations, CBCL scores were better for the siblings of children with cancer. Healthy siblings' sex and age, family size, understanding of the situation, and changes in daily routine had no influence on CBCL scores. Parent-reported scores indicated that older siblings of the child with cancer have more observable difficulties than do younger siblings.
Future research about healthy siblings will need to clarify whether these results are attributable to healthy siblings' resilience or to parents' difficulties in assessing their psychosocial difficulties. Directly measuring the siblings' perceptions will be of special importance. Distinguishing short- and long-term adjustment will also be important.
It is essential to design support programs for all family members and to help parents be aware of their healthy children's needs.
患有肿瘤疾病儿童的兄弟姐妹存在情绪和行为问题的风险，但很少有研究关注这些风险，且研究结果也不一致。
本研究旨在评估癌症患儿兄弟姐妹的心理适应情况，并分析多种调节变量的影响。
癌症患儿的父母用儿童行为检查表（CBCL）对其健康的子女（年龄 4-18 岁，n=30）进行评估，并对可能影响其子女适应能力的潜在风险因素进行半结构化访谈。将儿童行为检查表的评分与同年龄的对照组（n=33）进行比较。
与预期相反，癌症患儿兄弟姐妹的 CBCL 评分更好。健康兄弟姐妹的性别和年龄、家庭规模、对情况的理解以及日常生活的变化对 CBCL 评分没有影响。父母报告的评分表明，癌症患儿的年长兄弟姐妹比年幼的兄弟姐妹更有明显的困难。
未来关于健康兄弟姐妹的研究需要澄清这些结果是否归因于健康兄弟姐妹的适应能力，还是父母在评估其社会心理困难方面的困难。直接测量兄弟姐妹的感知将是特别重要的。区分短期和长期调整也很重要。
为所有家庭成员设计支持计划并帮助父母了解其健康孩子的需求至关重要。
