Interventions for children of parents with cancer: an overview

Purpose of review The purpose of this overview is to analyze existing reviews on psychosocial interventions for children of parents with cancer and synthesize implications for further practice, interventions, and research in this field. The aim of this overview is therefore to generate systematic knowledge about what can be classed as evidence-based knowledge in this field. Recent findings The literature search in MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, PSYNDEX, and PsycARTICLES resulted in three systematic reviews, which were evaluated by the AMSTAR-2-tool for quality assessment and the PRISMA-checklist for reporting. Results were analyzed through narrative synthesis due to the heterogeneity of the studies. The three systematic reviews were evaluated by the AMSTAR-2-tool for quality assessment and the PRISMA-checklist for reporting. AMSTAR-2 revealed critically low quality for all three reviews but taking into account the study situation of this scientific context, a more optimistic quality assessment can be suggested. The PRISMA checklist revealed good results. Positive evidence was found for the effect of psychosocial interventions concerning depressive symptoms, children's behavior, communication within the family, and quality of life. A comparison of the interventions is not possible due to the high degree of heterogeneity of the studies. Summary Following the principles of evidence-based medicine, this overview, together with clinical-practical expertise and the ne...
Source: Current Opinion in Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: SUPPORTIVE CARE: Edited by Jean A. Klastersky and Yves Libert Source Type: research