Teacher Perceptions of a School-Based Support Program for Children with Cancer.

Innovations in medicine have allowed children with cancer to attend school more frequently by increasing survival rates and improving access to outpatient therapies. Children with cancer still miss a significant proportion of school attendance and participation during treatment, thereby disrupting their educational experiences. "Monkey in My Chair" is a program in the United States that connects ill children with their schoolmates during illness-related absences to support their social relationships and eventual school re-entry into the school environment.

Legacy in paediatrics: A concept analysis.

Aim: To provide an analysis of legacy and legacy-oriented interventions in paediatric healthcare.

Design: Walker and Avant's method of concept analysis.

Methods: Using Walker and Avant's method, three defining attributes of the concept were determined, followed by antecedents, consequences, and empirical referents of legacy.

"Fitting the Pieces Together": The Experiences of Caregivers of Children With Medical Complexity.

Background And Objectives: Families of children with medical complexity manage a multitude of care responsibilities that must be carefully coordinated alongside typical family roles and activities. Currently, little is known about this experience from the perspectives of caregivers; therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the experience of caregiving for a child with medical complexity while identifying unmet medical and psychosocial needs.

Methods: Nineteen caregivers were recruited from the pediatric complex care clinic at an academic medical center in the United States.

An evidence-based protocol for sensory soothing in paediatric intensive care.

In recent years, an increasing body of literature has highlighted the significant sequelae of a paediatric intensive care unit admission for children and their families. More innovative bedside approaches are needed to support children's coping and development and help minimize the use of sedatives, given their known deleterious effects. To support nursing staff in managing agitation in critically ill infants and children, a 'Sensory Pyramid' program was built in collaboration with occupational therapists, child life specialists and critical care nursing staff at an academic medical center in the United States.

"They were here, and they still matter": A qualitative study of bereaved parents legacy experiences and perceptions.

Background: Legacy building interventions are used in pediatric healthcare settings to help families cope with difficult healthcare experiences and typically reserved for intentional use at or near the end of a child's life. However, little is known about how bereaved families perceive the concept of legacy that these practices are meant to address. Emerging research challenges the view of legacy as a standardized, handheld keepsake item but rather as a summation of qualities and experiences that affect those left behind.

Hospitalized children's perceptions of legacy: 'A symbol of yourself that you leave behind'.

Background: Legacy building is a developmentally grounded, trauma-informed and family-centred psychosocial intervention designed to bolster patient and family resilience through collaborative activities and meaning making. However, little is known about the effects of these interventions, partially because of a lack of clarity regarding how children of different developmental levels understand the concept of legacy. Therefore, this study explored the ways in which hospitalized children defined the concept of legacy.

Helping Children Cope with Loss: Legacy Interventions for the Grieving Classroom.

Early experiences of death and loss have a significant impact on children's coping and development across the lifespan, whether the deceased was a family member, friend, or even classmate. Given the sense of community and continuity that children often garner in schools, teachers are uniquely positioned to tailor and facilitate grief supports to meet the developmental and coping needs of their students in response to loss, especially in the case of a classmate's death. Legacy building interventions, though healthcare-derived, have internationally been applied to promote self-expression and meaning making for grieving children and families; the underlying theory and practice of such interventions may render them useful even in classroom environments.

Little time, lasting impact: Bereaved caregiver perceptions of legacy in perinatal and infant loss.

Background: Legacy interventions are standard in most children's hospitals, but little is known about how bereaved parents understand and describe the concept of legacy that these interventions are designed to Address. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand the legacy experiences and perceptions of parents who have experienced perinatal or early infant (less than three months of age) loss.

Methods: Grounded in constructionist epistemology and phenomenological qualitative traditions, ten bereaved parents completed an in-depth phenomenological interview regarding their perceptions of and experiences with the legacy of their deceased child.

An Interdisciplinary Hospital-Based Committee to Improve Pediatric Bereavement Care.

Although frequently overshadowed by adult mortality rates and bereavement care needs, the death of a child can significantly jeopardize the physical, psychosocial, and emotional health of surviving parents, caregivers, and family members. Unfortunately, researchers have only recently begun to explore the trajectory of pediatric bereavement care needs. As an ongoing public health concern, health care institutions and related organizations must partner with interdisciplinary care providers and bereaved families to design effective and sustainable bereavement supports in their communities.

Legacy perceptions and interventions for adults and children receiving palliative care: A systematic review.

Background: Legacy has been invoked as a means for strengthening human attachments, continuing bonds, and ensuring that individuals will be remembered; however, little is known about the spectrum of approaches to, outcomes associated with, and best practices for legacy interventions.

Aim: To systematically review research on legacy perceptions and interventions in pediatric and adult palliative care recipients.

Design: A systematic mixed studies review synthesizing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods study findings using PRISMA guidelines.

Exploration of the Relationship Between a Group Medical Play Intervention and Children's Preoperative Fear and Anxiety.

Introduction: Surgical procedures place children of all ages at risk for pediatric medical traumatic stress. Although medical play has proven effective in pediatric care, little is known about the impacts of a group medical play intervention on children's preoperative fear and anxiety. Therefore, the purpose of this pre-post quasi-experimental study was to explore the relationship between a group medical play activity and children's preoperative fear and anxiety.

Defining Legacy: The Perceptions of Pediatric Health Care Providers.

Legacy building interventions like plaster hand molds are offered in most children's hospitals, yet little is known about how the concept of legacy is understood and described by pediatric health care providers. Therefore, this study explored pediatric health care providers' perceptions of legacy at an academic medical center to ensure that future legacy interventions are evidence-informed and theoretically grounded. An electronic survey featuring three open-ended questions and two multiple-choice questions with an option for free text response was completed by 172 medical and psychosocial health care providers.

Researching the Experiences of Children with Cancer: Considerations for Practice.

Children and adolescents with cancer often participate in medical and psychosocial research throughout their diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, this involvement frequently extends into the survivorship period. Sometimes referred to as "doubly vulnerable" research participants, children and adolescents with cancer are not only minors, but also minors facing significant medical, developmental, and psychosocial stressors associated with chronic illness.

Play-based procedural preparation and support intervention for cranial radiation.

Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to examine the relationship between play-based procedural preparation and support intervention and use of sedation in children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors during radiation therapy. The secondary objective was to analyze the cost-effectiveness of the intervention compared to costs associated with daily sedation.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted, and 116 children aged 5-12 years met criteria for inclusion.