The Emotional Experience and Perceived Changes in Siblings of Children With Cancer Reported During a Group Intervention

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To examine the experiences and perceived changes in siblings of children with cancer while participating in a group intervention program. . RESEARCH APPROACH: Repeated observations during group participation and content analysis. . SETTING: A tertiary pediatric health center in Ontario, Canada. . PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-two siblings (aged 7-18 years) of children with cancer. . METHODOLOGIC APPROACH: Siblings participated in the Siblings Coping Together program, an eight-week group intervention designed for this population. Data consisted of materials completed by siblings (49 homework sheets, 33 pieces of artwork), and 31 logs recording events within group sessions. . FINDINGS: Three categories emerged from the data. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide rich insight into siblings' own views of changes in themselves and within the family, as well as the perceived benefits of group participation. . INTERPRETATION: Methodologically, this study demonstrated that the inclusion of visual materials as data is a valid methodology for future research. Clinically, these findings can help nurses in their daily care of children with cancer and their families.