Development and Pilot Testing of a Coping Kit for Parents of Hospitalized Children
Section snippets
Methods
This study was approved by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Institutional Review Board, and all participants provided informed consent.
Phase 1: Rapid Cycle Testing (n = 10)
Phase 1 was conducted from November 2016 to February 2017. Seventy parents were screened for Phase 1 (Fig.3), and 9 mothers and 1 father were enrolled (Table2). Two parents of 1 patient participated for a total of 9 separate patients. We made minor changes to the Coping Kit materials after Phase 1 based on the feedback from these parents, including changing the way the cards were held together (eg, switching from a binding of 1 ring to 2 rings in response to a parent complaint, “It kind of
Discussion
We found that the Coping Kit for Parents was used enthusiastically by the majority of parents 3 or more times a week. The need for a stress intervention in this population was evident, as parents were experiencing moderate depression and anxiety, high levels of negative affect, elevated stress, and lower self-efficacy related to their child's illness.15, 19,21, 22
Some parents reported wishing they had received the Coping Kit in the past when they were in more stressful situations related to
Conclusions
Parents of seriously ill children experience stress, negative affect, anxiety, and depression, which combined may affect their own well-being as well as their ability to care for their children. The Coping Kit for Parents is a brief and flexible stress management intervention that could be made available to all parents of children with serious illness who are hospitalized at a pediatric hospital with minimal staff training.
Acknowledgments
We thank Juliet Kilcoyne for designing the cards.
Financial disclosure: Supported by the Aetna Foundation, a national foundation based in Hartford, Connecticut, that supports projects to promote wellness, heath, and access to high-quality health care for everyone. The views presented here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Aetna Foundation, its directors, officers, or staff. The Aetna Foundation had no role study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of
References (35)
- et al.
The experience journal: a computer-based intervention for families facing congenital heart disease
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(2000) - et al.
The validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: an updated literature review
JPsychosomatRes
(2002) - et al.
Parenting in a crisis: conceptualising mothers of children with cancer
Soc Sci Med
(2002) - et al.
Resilience and psychosocial outcomes in parents of children with cancer
Pediatr Blood Cancer
(2014) - et al.
Disease and family contributors to adaptation in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile diabetes
Arthritis Care Res
(1998) - et al.
Parental coping in the context of having a child who is facing death: a theoretical framework
Palliat Support Care.
(2018) - et al.
Parental problem-solving abilities and the association of sickle cell disease complications with health-related quality of life for school-age children
J Clin Psychol Med Settings
(2014) - et al.
Parent coping support interventions during acute pediatric hospitalizations: a meta-analysis
Pediatrics
(2017) - et al.
Testing the theoretical framework of the COPE program for mothers of critically ill children: an integrative model of young children's post-hospital adjustment behaviors
J Pediatr Psychol
(2007) - et al.
Promoting Resilience in Stress Management for Parents (PRISM-P): an intervention for caregivers of youth with serious illness
Fam Syst Health
(2017)
Conducting a randomized clinical trial of an psychological intervention for parents/caregivers of children with cancer shortly after diagnosis
J Pediatr Psychol
Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions
Am Psychol
A brief self-administered psychological intervention to improve well-being in patients with cancer: results from a feasibility study
Psychooncology
Audio recordings of mindfulness-based stress reduction training to improve cancer patients' mood and quality of life—a pilot feasibility study
Support Care Cancer
Art-based occupation group reduces parent anxiety in the neonatal intensive care unit: a mixed-methods study
Am J Occup Ther
Peaceful play yoga: serenity and balance for children with cancer and their parents
JPediatr Oncol Nurs
Reducing distress in mothers of children with autism and other disabilities: a randomized trial
Pediatrics
Cited by (0)
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.