Increasingly aggressive medical treatment has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number of childhood cancer survivors over the past two decades. While """"""""cured"""""""" of cancer, these children and adolescents are at risk for significant medical and psychological sequelae. In the present study, we propose and test a post-traumatic stress model for understanding, predicting and treating emotional consequences of childhood cancer treatment. Intensive cancer treatment is intrusive and includes multiple and prolonged hospitalizations, repeated painful procedures, and generalized family distress over a period of several years. Four hundred pediatric oncology patients, age 8-18, disease free and off treatment for at least two years, and their parents, recruited from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of California at Los Angeles will complete paper and pencil measures of anxiety, posttraumatic stress, social support, and family functioning. An interview measure of anxiety in children will be administered to a randomly selected subset of 125 subjects and their parents. Equivalent numbers of matched controls, recruited from the pediatric clinics at both centers, will be used as a comparison group for both paper and pencil and interview portions of the study. The presence of anxiety and specific post-traumatic stress symptoms in the sample of cancer survivors will be compared with that in the control group. The relationship of post-traumatic stress symptoms to intensity of treatment, medical sequelae of treatment, and family and social support variables in survivors will also be explored. Through the identification of the prevalence and correlates of anxiety in pediatric oncology survivors and their parents, interventions to remediate the associated distress can be designed.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01CA063930-02S1
Application #
2106104
Study Section
Child/Adolescent Risk and Prevention Review Committee (CAPR)
Project Start
1993-09-30
Project End
1996-09-29
Budget Start
1994-09-30
Budget End
1996-09-29
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Department
Type
DUNS #
073757627
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19104
Alderfer, Melissa A; Navsaria, Neha; Kazak, Anne E (2009) Family functioning and posttraumatic stress disorder in adolescent survivors of childhood cancer. J Fam Psychol 23:717-25
Kazak, Anne E; Rourke, Mary T; Alderfer, Melissa A et al. (2007) Evidence-based assessment, intervention and psychosocial care in pediatric oncology: a blueprint for comprehensive services across treatment. J Pediatr Psychol 32:1099-110
Kazak, Anne E; Baxt, Chiara (2007) Families of infants and young children with cancer: a post-traumatic stress framework. Pediatr Blood Cancer 49:1109-13
Barakat, Lamia P; Alderfer, Melissa A; Kazak, Anne E (2006) Posttraumatic growth in adolescent survivors of cancer and their mothers and fathers. J Pediatr Psychol 31:413-9
Alderfer, Melissa A; Cnaan, Avital; Annunziato, Rachel A et al. (2005) Patterns of posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of childhood cancer survivors. J Fam Psychol 19:430-40
Tang, Xao X; Robinson, Marjorie E; Riceberg, Justin S et al. (2004) Favorable neuroblastoma genes and molecular therapeutics of neuroblastoma. Clin Cancer Res 10:5837-44
Kazak, Anne E; Alderfer, Melissa A; Streisand, Randi et al. (2004) Treatment of posttraumatic stress symptoms in adolescent survivors of childhood cancer and their families: a randomized clinical trial. J Fam Psychol 18:493-504
Kazak, Anne E; Alderfer, Melissa; Rourke, Mary T et al. (2004) Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in families of adolescent childhood cancer survivors. J Pediatr Psychol 29:211-9
Alderfer, Melissa A; Labay, Larissa E; Kazak, Anne E (2003) Brief report: does posttraumatic stress apply to siblings of childhood cancer survivors? J Pediatr Psychol 28:281-6
Streisand, R; Braniecki, S; Tercyak, K P et al. (2001) Childhood illness-related parenting stress: the pediatric inventory for parents. J Pediatr Psychol 26:155-62

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