Impact of sociodemographic factors, stress, and communication on health-related quality of life in survivors of pediatric cancer.

Background: While most research has largely focused on medical risks associated with reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in survivors, sociodemographic and family factors may also play a role. Thus, we longitudinally examined sociodemographic factors and family factors associated with survivor HRQOL, including adolescent's cancer-specific stress, mother's general stress, and mother-adolescent communication.

Methods: Mothers (N = 80) and survivors (ages 10-23, N = 50) were assessed 5 years following initial diagnosis.

Coping and Social Adjustment in Pediatric Oncology: From Diagnosis to 12 Months.

Objective: Children diagnosed with cancer experience stress associated with their diagnosis and treatment and are at heightened risk for problems in social adjustment. This study investigated the association between coping with cancer-related stress and problems in social adjustment across the first year after a pediatric cancer diagnosis.

Methods: Mothers of children (ages 5-17 years) with cancer (N = 312) were recruited from two children's hospitals.

Responsive Parenting Behaviors and Cognitive Function in Children With Sickle Cell Disease.

Objective: Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at increased risk for cognitive impairment as a result in part from biological characteristics of the disease; however, limited research has explored possible social and contextual factors associated with risk for cognitive problems. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the relation between children's cognitive functioning and responsive parenting, a potentially important contextual factor in children with SCD, accounting for family socioeconomic disadvantage, child disease severity, and caregivers' perceived stress.

Methods: Forty-eight children completed standardized cognitive assessments and caregivers provided self-reports of general and disease-related stress.

Associations of transcranial doppler velocity, age, and gender with cognitive function in children with sickle cell anemia in Nigeria.

Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) have elevated cerebral blood velocity relative to healthy peers. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the association between cerebral blood velocity, measured by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound, age, and gender with cognitive function in children with SCA in Nigeria. Eighty-three children (M = 9.

Longitudinal associations among maternal depressive symptoms, child emotional caretaking, and anxious/depressed symptoms in pediatric cancer.

Research has shown that children experience increased emotional distress when engaging in emotional caretaking of a parent. The current study is the first to examine this process in families in which the source of the stress is the child's illness. Prospective associations were tested among mothers' depressive symptoms near the time of their child's cancer diagnosis, mothers' expressed distress and their child's emotional caretaking during an interaction task, and child anxious/depressed symptoms at 1 year postdiagnosis.

Maternal Communication in Childhood Cancer: Factor Analysis and Relation to Maternal Distress.

Objective: This study aimed to characterize mothers' communication with their children in a sample of families with a new or newly relapsed pediatric cancer diagnosis, first using factor analysis and second using structural equation modeling to examine relations between self-reported maternal distress (anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress) and maternal communication in prospective analyses. A hierarchical model of communication was proposed, based on a theoretical framework of warmth and control.

Methods: The sample included 115 children (age 5-17 years) with new or newly relapsed cancer (41% leukemia, 18% lymphoma, 6% brain tumor, and 35% other) and their mothers.

Cognitive Function, Coping, and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between cognitive functioning, coping, and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD).

Method: Forty-four children (M age = 9.30, SD = 3.

Maternal Coping and Depressive Symptoms as Predictors of Mother-Child Communication About a Child's Cancer.

Objective: This study sought to identify possible associations between maternal coping and depression and subsequent mother-child communication about cancer following the child's diagnosis. 

Method: Mothers (N = 100) reported on coping and depressive symptoms shortly after the child's diagnosis (M = 1.9 months).

Longitudinal associations among maternal communication and adolescent posttraumatic stress symptoms after cancer diagnosis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine adolescent and maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and maternal communication from time near cancer diagnosis to 12-month follow-up to identify potential risk factors for adolescent PTSS.

Methods: Forty-one adolescents with cancer (10-17 years, 54% female) and their mothers self-reported PTSS at T1 (two months after cancer diagnosis) and T3 (1-year follow-up). At T2 (3 months after T1), mother-adolescent dyads were videotaped discussing cancer, and maternal communication was coded with macro (harsh and withdrawn) and micro (solicits and validations) systems.

Childhood Cancer in Context: Sociodemographic Factors, Stress, and Psychological Distress Among Mothers and Children.

Objective: To examine associations between sociodemographic factors (single parenthood, family income, education level, race), stress, and psychological distress among pediatric cancer patients and their mothers.

Methods: Participants completed measures assessing sociodemographic variables, depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, general stress, and cancer-related stress within the first year of the child's (ages 5-17 years) cancer diagnosis or relapse. Mothers (N = 318) provided self-reports and parent report of their children; children aged 10-17 years (N = 151) completed self-reports.

Mothers and fathers coping with their children's cancer: Individual and interpersonal processes.

Objective: To examine individual and interpersonal processes of coping and emotional distress in a sample of mothers and fathers of children with recently diagnosed cancer.

Method: A sample of 317 mothers and 166 fathers of 334 children were recruited near the time of the child's cancer diagnosis or relapse (M = 1.4 months, SD = 1.

Children and adolescents coping with cancer: self- and parent reports of coping and anxiety/depression.

Objective: The diagnosis and treatment of cancer present children and adolescents with significant stress. However, research on the ways that children and adolescents cope with cancer-related stress has not yielded clear findings on the efficacy of different coping strategies, and has been limited by reliance primarily on self-reports of both coping and distress. To address this gap, the current study used a control-based model of coping to examine self- and parent reports of child/adolescent coping and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a sample of children with cancer.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of brief cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety in patients with terminal cancer.

Introduction: Patients with terminal cancer often experience marked anxiety that is associated with poor quality of life. Although cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety disorders, the approach needs to be adapted to address realistic concerns related to having cancer, such as worries about disease progression, disability, and death. In this pilot randomized controlled trial (clinicaltrials.

Tumor epidermal growth factor receptor genotype and depression in stage IV non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Depression appears to be associated with worse survival from cancer, but underlying mechanisms for this association are unknown. In the present study, we explored the degree to which tumor genotype may be associated with depression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We examined differences in depression severity and rates of positive screens for major depressive disorder among newly diagnosed patients with stage IV NSCLC and known epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) genotype.