Family Environment, Social Support, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescents Following Kidney Transplant.

Background: Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for pediatric end-stage renal disease. Transplant recipients often have better neurocognitive, academic, and health-related outcomes. While there is some evidence that health-related quality of life (HRQOL) improves following kidney transplant, other studies have found adolescent transplant recipients report lower overall HRQOL than healthy peers.

Illness perceptions and beliefs about medication: impact on health-related quality of life in adolescent kidney transplant recipients.

Adolescents diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who undergo kidney transplantation have to adjust to pervasive effects of chronic illness and life-long treatment maintenance, alongside normative developmental stressors. The way in which adolescent transplant recipients experience and think about their illness as well as their medication regimen can be a crucial factor impacting psychosocial outcomes. Participants were 26 adolescent kidney transplant recipients (μ = 16.

Longitudinal Impact of Parental Catastrophizing on Child Functional Disability in Pediatric Amplified Pain.

Objective: Children with amplified musculoskeletal pain (AMPS) experience significant functional disability, with impairment in their ability to participate in age-appropriate activities of daily living. Parental factors play an important role in a child's pain symptoms and treatment outcomes, with parental pain catastrophizing and protective behaviors linked to several maladaptive outcomes for children. Aims of the current study were to examine how parental pain catastrophizing, child pain catastrophizing, and parental protective behaviors longitudinally impacted functional disability for children with AMPS.

Association between day of the week and medication adherence among adolescent and young adult kidney transplant recipients.

Disruption of usual routines may hinder adherence, increasing the risk of rejection. We aimed to compare weekend versus weekday medication adherence among adolescent and young adult kidney transplant recipients, hypothesizing poorer adherence on weekends. We examined data from the Teen Adherence in Kidney transplant Effectiveness of Intervention Trial (TAKE-IT).

Social Problem Solving and Posttraumatic Growth New Possibilities in Postoperative Breast Cancer Survivors.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether social problem solving (SPS) would relate to posttraumatic growth (PTG), particularly new life possibilities in breast cancer survivors. Participants included 85 women who had undergone surgical intervention for breast cancer at least 6 months prior to study participation. Participant ages ranged from 29 to 88 years.

Examining Uncertainty in Illness in Parents and Children With Chronic Kidney Disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Mediational Model of Internalizing Symptoms and Health-Related Quality of Life.

To examine if parent illness uncertainty is indirectly associated with child depression, anxiety, and HRQOL in the CKD/SLE population. Parent-child dyads (N = 31) from outpatient rheumatology and nephrology clinics included children (ages 9-18) diagnosed with CKD (Stage 1, 2, or nephrotic syndrome) or SLE. Parents completed demographic and uncertainty measures and children completed uncertainty, depression, anxiety, and HRQOL measures.

Medication adherence in pediatric renal transplant patients: The role of family functioning and parent health locus of control.

Children and adolescents with renal disease experience daily social, emotional, and medical challenges. Renal transplantation can help to improve quality of life but requires a lifelong regimen of immunosuppressant medication to maintain health. Adherence to a daily complex regimen can be difficult, particularly for adolescents who are beginning to develop autonomy from caregivers and are faced with a unique set of socio-emotional challenges.

A Randomized Trial of a Multicomponent Intervention to Promote Medication Adherence: The Teen Adherence in Kidney Transplant Effectiveness of Intervention Trial (TAKE-IT).

Background: Poor adherence to immunosuppressive medications is a major cause of premature graft loss among children and young adults. Multicomponent interventions have shown promise but have not been fully evaluated.

Study Design: Unblinded parallel-arm randomized trial to assess the efficacy of a clinic-based adherence-promoting intervention.

Post-transplant adjustment--the later years.

As survival rates for pediatric solid organ transplantation have continued to improve, researchers and healthcare providers have increasingly focused on understanding and enhancing the HRQOL and psychosocial functioning of their patients. This manuscript reviews the psychosocial functioning of pediatric transplant recipients during the "later years," defined as more than three yr post-transplant, and focuses on the day-to-day impact of living with a transplant after the immediate period of adjustment and early years after surgery. Key topics reviewed include HRQOL, cognitive functioning, impact on the family, regimen adherence, and transition of responsibility for self-management tasks.

Best practices in the pediatric pretransplant psychosocial evaluation.

Assessment of psychosocial functioning is an often-included component of the pretransplant evaluation process. This study reviews several domains of assessment that have been related to post-transplant outcomes across solid organ transplant populations. These include evaluation of patient and family past adherence, knowledge about the transplantation process, and their neurocognitive, psychological, and family functioning.

Physical symptoms, perceived social support, and affect in adolescents with cancer.

Treatment for cancer among adolescents is often more intense and lasts longer than treatment for older or younger patients. It typically causes pain, fatigue, and nausea and affects social and emotional well-being. This study examined the relationships among demographics, physical symptoms, perceived social support from friends and family, and affect (positive and negative) in 102 adolescents (age 13-19) with cancer using correlational analyses.

Medication beliefs and perceived barriers in adolescent renal transplant patients and their parents.

Understanding patient beliefs about medications and perceived barriers is important for optimal medical management. Differentiating adolescent views from parents' perceptions would enhance care by increasing communication about regimens and reducing obstacles. This study explored beliefs about medications and perceived barriers among 40 adolescent kidney transplant patients and their parents.

The experience of secondary traumatic stress upon care providers working within a children's hospital.

This study examined the impact of routine occupational exposure to traumatic aspects of child illness, injury, and medical treatment upon care providers working within a children's hospital. Three hundred fourteen providers completed a demographic data sheet and four questionnaires. Results suggested overall that the level of Compassion Fatigue in this sample was similar to a trauma worker comparison group.

Eliciting accurate reports of adherence in a clinical interview: development of the Medical Adherence Measure.

Nonadherence is a major public health concern but reliable assessment methods are limited. The Medical Adherence Measure (MAM) was designed as a semi-structured clinical interview to elicit comprehensive and accurate responses from patients regarding adherence during the course of standard clinical care. The measure was developed in three phases and administered to 219 pediatric patients (ages 1.

Perceived barriers to adherence among adolescent renal transplant candidates.

Non-adherence to medical regimens is a ubiquitous hindrance to quality health care among adolescent transplant recipients. Identification of potentially modifiable barriers to adherence when patients are listed for organ transplant would help with early intervention efforts to prepare adolescents for the stringent medication regimen post-transplant. Fifty-six adolescents listed for a kidney transplant, mean age 14.

The challenges of using medication event monitoring technology with pediatric transplant patients.

This study investigated the advantages and challenges of using Medication Electronic Monitoring System (MEMS) technology to examine adherence among pediatric kidney transplant patients. Twenty-nine patients participated in the study, with a mean age of 14.03 yr (SD = 3.

Psychosocial evaluation of candidates for living related kidney donation.

Living kidney donation has raised practical and ethical questions since renal transplantation became possible 50 years ago. Nevertheless, living donors are a common source for badly needed organs in the pediatric population. The safety and well being of the living donor are important concerns.

An integrative model of pediatric medical traumatic stress.

Objective: To guide assessment and intervention for patients and families, a model for assessing and treating pediatric medical traumatic stress (PMTS) is presented that integrates the literature across pediatric conditions.

Methods: A model with three general phases is outlined--I, peritrauma; II, early, ongoing, and evolving responses; and III, longer-term PMTS. Relevant literature for each is reviewed and discussed with respect to implications for intervention for patients and families.

Anemia and health-related quality of life in adolescents with chronic kidney disease.

Background: A number of studies of adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have shown a negative impact of anemia on several aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Although similar links have been suggested in adolescent dialysis populations, the relationship between anemia and HRQOL in children not requiring dialysis therapy has yet to be studied extensively in a large sample.

Methods: We examined the association between anemia and HRQOL in baseline data collected on a prospective cohort of adolescents with CKD by using a generic HRQOL questionnaire completed by parents or caregivers (Child Health Questionnaire Parent Form [CHQ-PF50]).

Creation of a novel hemodialysis bridge graft to extend the life of an adolescent.

All conventional dialysis access options were exhausted in a 19-year-old girl with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Her course was medically and psychosocially complicated. To save her life, a subclavian artery to right atrium hemodialysis bridge graft was created so that she could be dialyzed successfully.

The Illness Management Survey: identifying adolescents' perceptions of barriers to adherence.

Objective: To develop a self-report measure of barriers to adherence and to evaluate its reliability and validity in a sample of adolescents with asthma.

Methods: The Illness Management Survey (IMS) was developed through item generation, expert panel review, and focus group administration. Adolescents with asthma (N = 152) completed the measure.