This project will test the effectiveness of an intervention to improve psychosocial adjustment and functional and physiologic health in children (8 to 12 years) with cystic fibrosis (CF) by teaching them life skills to manage their chronic illness in their everyday lives. The goal is to help children develop strategies for managing their health status and life experience to maximize their development progress and quality of life. It is hypothesized that at the end of treatment, children who receive the KIDS with CF -- Building Life Skills protocol will show significantly greater improvement in psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem and self-competence, loneliness, impact of illness), functional health (functional disability, treatment adherence), and physiologic health status (pulmonary function and physical growth) over time than those receiving usual CF care. A two-group experimental, repeated measures design will compare children who receive the intervention with those who receive usual care; 116 children will be randomly assigned to the experimental or control groups. Treatment will include social problem-solving training and social skills training delivered in individual and small group sessions over a 5-week time span with 1-week intervals between sessions. At each group session, FEV1, height, and weight will be measured and children will have a brief interview on medication use, performance of chest physical therapy, and physical activity. At baseline assessment, immediately after, and at 3-, 6-, and 9-months after the intervention, children will complete the Self-Perception Profile for Children, Loneliness in Children Scale, Perceived Illness Experience Scale, and Functional Disability Inventory; pulmonary function FEV1, height, and weight will be measured; and a brief interview focusing on medication use, performance of chest physical therapy, and level of physical activity will be conducted. Multivariate ANOVA will be used to compare the pre-intervention equivalence of the study groups. Repeated measures MANOVA will compare each psychosocial, functional, and physiologic health outcome variable for the intervention and control groups. Interview data will be analyzed using content analysis. This life skills intervention should also have applicability for children with other chronic illnesses.
| Christian, Becky J; Pearce, Patricia F; Roberson, Anthony J et al. (2010) It's a small, small world: data collection strategies for research with children and adolescents. J Pediatr Nurs 25:202-14 |
| Christian, Becky J; D'Auria, Jennifer P (2006) Building life skills for children with cystic fibrosis: effectiveness of an intervention. Nurs Res 55:300-7 |
| Christian, Becky (2003) Growing up with chronic illness: psychosocial adjustment of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis. Annu Rev Nurs Res 21:151-72 |
