Integrative Approaches in Pediatric Palliative Care.

Pediatric palliative care is a field which focuses on caring for and treating the symptoms and distress typically associated with life-limiting illness. Integrative medicine is supported by evidence and aims to heal the whole person, including all aspects of one’s lifestyle. Therapies offered by integrative medicine often empower patients and families, allowing for a sense of control.

Interdisciplinary Pediatric Palliative Care Team Involvement in Compassionate Extubation at Home: From Shared Decision-Making to Bereavement.

Little is known about the role of pediatric palliative care (PPC) programs in providing support for home compassionate extubation (HCE) when families choose to spend their child's end of life at home. Two cases are presented that highlight the ways in which the involvement of PPC teams can help to make the option available, help ensure continuity of family-centered care between hospital and home, and promote the availability of psychosocial support for the child and their entire family, health care team members, and community. Though several challenges to realizing the option of HCE exist, early consultation with a PPC team in the hospital, the development of strategic community partnerships, early referral to home based care resources, and timely discussion of family preferences may help to make this option a realistic one for more families.

Quality of life among parents of children with cancer or brain tumors: the impact of child characteristics and parental psychosocial factors.

Purpose: Understanding the impact of childhood cancer on the family is increasingly important. This study aimed to (1) examine the relationship between child clinical characteristics and health-related quality of life (QOL) among parents of children with cancer or brain tumors, and (2) determine how parental psychosocial factors impact this relationship.

Methods: Using a within-group approach, this study examined 75 children with cancer or brain tumors and their parent.

Stress-mediated quality of life outcomes in parents of childhood cancer and brain tumor survivors: a case-control study.

Purpose: To determine if caring for a child with cancer or a brain tumor affects parental health and mental health and if and to what extent stress mediates the relationship between case status and parental quality of life.

Methods: In person interviewer-assisted surveys were administered to 74 case dyads (children diagnosed with cancer or a brain tumor and their parents) and 129 control dyads (children without health problems and their parents from a community sample) to assess health-related quality of life and perceived levels of stress.

Results: Parents of children with cancer or a brain tumor had significantly worse health-related quality of life, including worse overall mental health.