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Relatively heightened distress in parents of children with complicated cancer is influenced by diagnosis-related factors like an intricate prediagnostic phase, and uncertainty about late effects. Heightened vulnerability to distress signals exceptional needs for support and information among parents of children treated for central nervous system or bone tumors.

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Psychology, University of Jyv€ askyl€ a, Jyv€ askyl€ a, Finland Scand J Caring Sci; 2018; 32; 389-396 Cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness for stress and burnout: a waiting list controlled pilot study comparing treatments for parents of children with chronic conditions Background: Parents of children with chronic conditions often experience a crisis with serious mental health problems for themselves as a consequence. The healthcare focus is on the children; however, the parents often worry about their children's health and future but are seldom offered any counselling or guidance. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two group-based behavioural interventions on stress and burnout among parents of children with chronic conditions. Design, participants and setting: After a waiting list control period (n = 28), parents were offered either a cognitive behavioural (CBT, n = 10) or a mindfulness program (MF, n = 9). Results: Both interventions decreased significantly stress and burnout. The within-group effect sizes were large in both interventions (CBT, g = 1.28-1.64; MF, g = 1.25-2.20). Conclusions: Hence, the results of this pilot study show that treating a group using either CBT or mindfulness can be an efficient intervention for reducing stress levels and burnout in parents of children with chronic conditions.

The objective of this study is to portray the illness-related threats experienced by parents of children after the diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) tumor. Parents were asked to rate the extent to which they experienced a set of specific fears related to their child's brain tumor and its treatment. Outcomes for parents of CNS tumor patients (n = 82) were compared with those of reference parents of patients treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 208). The fears about an illness recurrence and the late effects of treatment were most prominent among parents of CNS tumor patients. For 7 out of 11 kinds of fear, parents of CNS tumor patients expressed a stronger fear than the reference group. More than a quarter of the parents of children treated for CNS tumors feared a complete decline of the child. Parents of CNS tumor patients experience relatively heightened cancer related fears in several domains. The fear of devastating consequences felt by one fourth of parents signals the need of individualized psychological support and information at diagnosis and follow-up to facilitate parental coping with the posttreatment situation.