Scialla Michele A, Wiener Lori, Canter Kimberly S, Brown Victoria Sardi, Buff Kimberly, Arasteh Kamyar, Pariseau Emily, Sandler Eric, Kazak Anne E
Nemours Children's Health, Wilmington, Delaware, USA.
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2025 Jun;72(6):e31676. doi: 10.1002/pbc.31676. Epub 2025 Mar 27.
The Standards for the Psychosocial Care of Children with Cancer and their Families (the Standards) support the provision of evidence-based psychosocial care across the pediatric cancer trajectory by specialized multidisciplinary staff. This paper presents data from the Implementing the Standards Together: Engaging Parents and Providers in Psychosocial care (iSTEPPP) study on the number and type of psychosocial staff at pediatric oncology programs in the United States in 2023, 8 years after the publication of the Standards.
Up to two healthcare professionals from pediatric cancer programs in the United States participated in an online survey. The number and type of psychosocial staff are reported and compared with data from a similar 2016 survey. Challenges in delivering psychosocial care and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on staffing are also reported.
Participants were clinical leaders from 129 pediatric oncology programs (73 medical and 109 psychosocial providers). Social workers are present in 97.2% of programs and child life specialists in 92.5%. Psychologists (69.2%), neuropsychologists (39.3%), and psychiatrists (15.0%) are less common. There has been some increase in the percentage of programs reporting social workers, psychologists, neuropsychologists, and psychiatrists and in the mean number of psychosocial staff since the Standards were published. Challenges in psychosocial staff are related to funding and are consistent with 2016 data.
Although most participating pediatric oncology programs have psychosocial staff, many sites continue to lack the size and breadth of multidisciplinary teams needed to implement the Standards.
《癌症患儿及其家庭心理社会护理标准》（以下简称《标准》）支持专业多学科工作人员在小儿癌症治疗全程提供循证心理社会护理。本文呈现了“共同实施标准：让家长和提供者参与心理社会护理”（iSTEPPP）研究的数据，该研究针对《标准》发布8年后的2023年美国儿科肿瘤项目中心理社会工作人员的数量和类型。
美国儿科癌症项目中最多两名医疗保健专业人员参与了一项在线调查。报告了心理社会工作人员的数量和类型，并与2016年类似调查的数据进行比较。还报告了提供心理社会护理方面的挑战以及新冠疫情对人员配备的影响。
参与者是来自129个儿科肿瘤项目的临床负责人（73名医疗人员和109名心理社会护理提供者）。97.2%的项目有社会工作者，92.5%的项目有儿童生活专家。心理学家（69.2%）、神经心理学家（39.3%）和精神科医生（15.0%）则较为少见。自《标准》发布以来，报告有社会工作者、心理学家、神经心理学家和精神科医生的项目百分比以及心理社会工作人员的平均数量都有所增加。心理社会工作人员面临的挑战与资金有关，且与2016年的数据一致。
尽管大多数参与的儿科肿瘤项目都有心理社会工作人员，但许多机构仍然缺乏实施《标准》所需的多学科团队的规模和广度。
