Document Detail


Siblings of a child with cancer.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  7988001     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
A total of 21 healthy siblings were interviewed about their experiences when a brother or sister is diagnosed with cancer. Information about the illness, opinions about who should inform siblings, social support, specific worries and worst memories were studied, as well as perceptions of any differences in the way they were treated by their parents. A short General Impact Scale was developed to assess the extent to which the siblings felt their lives had been disrupted by the illness. Results on these measures were compared with scores on four dimensions of the Sibling Perception Questionnaire (Carpenter & Sahler 1991). Siblings who reported some positive effects as a consequence of the illness (they had become more empathic toward others, or valued life more) perceived their interpersonal relations to be more negatively affected, i.e. there were greater difficulties in their relationships with others especially their parents. Higher scores on communication were related to less of an impact of the illness on life generally. However, these siblings also reported heightened concerns that their brother or sister might die. The data suggested that siblings should have opportunities to talk about implications of the disease, especially worries about death, and more efforts should be made to prepare siblings for visits to hospital and seeing the sick child.
Authors:
T Havermans; C Eiser
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Child: care, health and development     Volume:  20     ISSN:  0305-1862     ISO Abbreviation:  Child Care Health Dev     Publication Date:    1994 Sep-Oct
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1995-01-09     Completed Date:  1995-01-09     Revised Date:  2006-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7602632     Medline TA:  Child Care Health Dev     Country:  ENGLAND    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  309-22     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, UK.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Attitude to Health*
Child
Child, Preschool
Communication
Empathy
Female
Humans
Male
Neoplasms / psychology*
Personality Assessment
Sibling Relations*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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