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Cancer Control Research

Abstract

DESCRIPTION: The diagnosis of cancer forces entire families to learn how to cope. This is especially true when the patient is the parent of young children. Past interventions for families dealing with parental cancer have focused on the intermediate and late stages of illness and treatment, including bereavement. There are no programs with demonstrated effectiveness available to families which focus on the parents and child needs in the period immediately following diagnosis. This application proposes development of a video intervention designed to help families make healthier adjustments and increase their resiliency when a parent has cancer. The program consists of three videos (parent tape, child tape, adolescent tape) and a comprehensive guidebook. The program will be designed to alleviate acute stress, facilitate adaptive coping and reduce the negative psychological and emotional effects of newly diagnosed parental cancer on children. The program will offer specific help to parents about how to communicate with their children and how to understand children's developmental needs. Phase I addressed development of the structure and content of the program. Phase II will produce a beta version of the program and includes a clinical trial to test the efficacy and safety of the program.