Alexithymia in children with cancer and their siblings

Communication between parents and well-siblings in the context of living with a child with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition

Effective parent-child communication may serve to buffer the potential negative impacts of stressful situations on a child. Children who have a brother or sister with a life-threatening or life-limiting medical condition may turn to their parents for help with comprehending the situation, to help maintain their own ability to function across various life areas or to receive emotional support. There is a need for more investigation into the nature and importance of parent-child communication in the context of living with a seriously ill brother or sister. The current paper presents a framework of parent-sibling communication in the context of living with a seriously unwell child, distinguishing the focus of communication (illness-related vs. non-illness-related) and the purpose of communication (information-provision vs. emotional support). Such a framework offers a holistic approach to exploring some of the challenges of communication between parents and well-siblings. The state of current knowledge regarding the focus and purpose of communication between parents and well-siblings is reviewed, and implications for research and possible clinical applications discussed.

Alexithymic Traits and Somatic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents: a Screening Approach to Explore the Mediation Role of Depression

The association among alexithymia, somatic symptoms and clinical correlates has been scantly investigated in children. The present study examined alexithymic features and somatic symptomatology in schoolchildren with high and low levels of depression, testing the role of depressive symptoms in mediating the associations between alexithymia and somatic symptoms. Seven-hundred schoolchildren were involved in this study and divided into two subgroups (8-10 years and 11-14 years) in order to test differences according to the age. Participants completed the Children's Somatization Inventory-24 for the assessment of somatic symptoms, the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children to evaluate alexithymic features and the Children's Depression Inventory-2 to investigate depressive symptoms. Results showed that children with high levels of depression reported both higher alexithymia and somatic symptoms levels. Despite a direct effect of alexithymia on somatic symptoms, the mediation analyses also highlighted an indirect effect of alexythimia on somatic symptoms through depressive symptoms. Findings suggested that a depressive symptomatology may clarify why schoolchildren with high alexithymia scores tend to report higher levels of health problems. Results also support the possibility that depressive symptoms may contribute to the development of somatic symptomatology among schoolchildren in the presence of high levels of alexithymia.

Supporting Siblings as a Standard of Care in Pediatric Oncology

In this study, evidence is provided for supporting siblings as a standard of care in pediatric oncology. Using Medline, PsycInfo, and CINAHL, a systematic search of articles published over the past two decades about siblings of children with cancer was conducted. A total of 125 articles, which were primarily descriptive studies, were evaluated by the four investigators using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. There is moderate-quality evidence, as well as support from community stakeholders, to justify a strong recommendation that siblings of children with cancer should be provided with psychosocial services and that parents and professionals are advised about how to meet siblings' needs.