Childhood cancer: siblings draw and tell.

There is a growing awareness among health care professionals that the psychosocial needs of siblings of children with cancer are less adequately met than those of other family members. As part of a larger research study of 17 families of children with cancer, 20 healthy siblings, ages 3-11 years (7 males, 13 females), were tested using the Kinetic Family Drawing-Revised (Spinetta, McLaren, Fox, & Sparta, 1981) in one of two oncology clinics in a Southwestern state. Nine of the subjects participated in a sibling day. Data from the drawings and discussions with siblings confirm previous sibling research findings and reflect current social changes.