The Role of Resilience in the Sibling Experience of Pediatric Palliative Care: What Is the Theory and Evidence?

"What about me?": lived experiences of siblings living with a brother or sister with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition

BACKGROUND

There is a lack of knowledge regarding siblings' experiences of being a brother or sister of a child with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition. Siblings' perspectives are often expressed through their parents and not by siblings themselves.

METHOD

This study has a qualitative design within hermeneutic phenomenology. Thirteen siblings (ages 3-29) of children with cancer or genetic conditions participated in semi-structured interviews. Analyses followed a thematic analysis guided by van Manen's lifeexistentials.

RESULTS

One overall theme, "What about me?", illustrates that siblings of children with LT/LL conditions are dealing with their own challenges and needs in the situation while also struggling to receive attention from their parents. The overall theme derives from three subthemes: living with heavy strains, feeling disregarded, and having needs of one's own.

CONCLUSION

The study revealed that siblings' own needs compete with the needs of the ill child, resulting in the risk of siblings taking a step back rather than expressing what they might actually need themselves. These findings can inform healthcare professionals on the importance of educating and supporting parents and the surrounding community close to the sibling, for example, by helping schoolteachers understand how to meet siblings' needs.

"Why Are we Giving up on my Brother?"-The Unmet Needs of the Adolescent Facing End-of-Life Care in a Sibling

Adolescence is a challenging time at baseline, and a sibling receiving end-of-life care can alter an adolescent's life irrevocably. It is imperative for the medical team to understand the unique needs and perspectives of such an adolescent sibling. This in turn facilitates the anticipation of an adolescent's grief response, and allows for parents to be appropriately guided. However, more can be done to evaluate the needs of adolescent siblings and improve their support. This can be through establishing a validated needs-based questionnaire, empowering families and the multidisciplinary team to engage siblings, and diverting resources toward culturally sensitive support groups for siblings with critical illness. A framework to involve key players in the adolescent's circle is presented.

Healthy siblings' perspectives about paediatric palliative care: A qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis

BACKGROUND

Siblings of children requiring palliative care are often forgotten and overlooked, as the focus tends to be on the ill child and their parents. Limited knowledge of non-bereaved siblings' perspectives makes it challenging to provide appropriate support for them. A review of existing literature is thus needed to better understand the experiences of these siblings and to identify research gaps that may require further examination.

AIM

To consolidate the available qualitative evidence on the perspectives of non-bereaved healthy siblings regarding paediatric palliative care.

DESIGN

A qualitative systematic review using a meta-synthesis approach was conducted.

DATA SOURCES

Six electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, Scopus and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global) were searched from each database's inception date until October 2022. The search included qualitative and mixed-method studies that reported the perceptions and associations of siblings of patients receiving paediatric palliative care. Data were synthesised using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Eleven studies were included. The overarching theme of the review would be 'A walking shadow: Living in the darkness shaped by the dying sibling', and three key themes and nine subthemes were identified from the included articles: (1) Changing family dynamics; (2) Impact on school and socialisation and (3) Psychological impact and coping.

CONCLUSION

Siblings demonstrated negative psychological impacts and were affected by changing family structure and relationships. However, socialisation with society, and varied coping skills such as cognitive coping and using distraction techniques, were significant for siblings to go through this journey and even led to some positive outcomes for them.

The "well-sibling" syndrome: hypnosis for the siblings of special needs children

Often overlooked by caregivers because of their ability to adapt to a challenging home life by making few demands themselves, the siblings of special needs children have unacknowledged needs of their own. They often are reluctant to participate in therapy because of their self-concept of having to be the "normal" or "perfect" child. Therapy with these children requires non-pathologizing and attuned rapport building focused on creative self-exploration without requests for change. Two composite case vignettes illustrate the power and versatility of clinical hypnosis to facilitate new learning about becoming visible in the therapeutic relationship and beyond.

Living with a child who has a life-limiting condition: The functioning of well-siblings and parents

BACKGROUND

Living with a child who has a life-limiting condition (LLC) is likely to have a major impact on all family members. There is a need to have a clearer understanding of the nature and extent of this impact on parents and well-siblings. The current study aimed to investigate the psychosocial functioning of well-siblings and parents living with a child with an LLC. Further, the study aimed to assess the resilience resources of both well-siblings and parents, giving consideration to how these relate to psychosocial functioning.

METHODS

Participants included 48 well-siblings (6-21 years) and 42 parents of children with LLCs. Parents and well-siblings independently completed validated measures of child and adult functioning and personal resilience. Parents provided demographic information about the patient and family.

RESULTS

The emotional, social and school functioning of well-siblings in the current study was found to be significantly poorer than published norms (all p's < .01). Parental self-reported depression, anxiety and stress scores were also all significantly poorer than published norms (all p's < .01). There was negligible agreement between well-sibling self-reported functioning and parental proxy-report of the well-siblings functioning (all r's < .126, all p's > .464). Sibling self-reported resilience was positively correlated with each of the measures of psychosocial functioning (all r's > .318, p's < .05). Parental resilience was significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms (r = -.369, p < .05) and anxiety symptoms (r = -.473, p < .01) but not stress scores (r = -.074, p = .644).

CONCLUSION

Family members living with a child who has an LLC were found to have significantly poorer psychosocial functioning than published norms. Although one cannot infer a causal direction from the current study, greater self-reported well-sibling and parental resilience were associated with aspects of better self-reported psychosocial functioning. Future studies should assess the impact of psychosocial interventions aimed at enhancing the resilience and functioning of both well-siblings and parents.

Concerns of Parents With Children Receiving Home-Based Pediatric Palliative Care

CONTEXT

Caring for a child who will die from a life-limiting illness is one of the most difficult experiences a parent may face. Pediatric palliative care (PPC) has grown as a specialty service to address the unique needs of children and families with serious illness. However, gaps remain between the needs of families in PPC and the support received.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to explore the concerns of parents who have a child in home-based PPC.

METHODS

Semistructured interviews were conducted with 25 mothers and 10 fathers from 25 families shortly after their child's referral to home-based PPC. Children (57% male, M_age = 10.5 years, SD = 3.95, range = 4-18 years) had a range of diagnoses. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis.

RESULTS

Parents' concerns clustered into four main themes: 1) ensuring that their child's remaining days were spent living well physically, emotionally, and socially; 2) uncertainty regarding their child's diagnosis, prognosis, and treatments; 3) their child's death (e.g., the process of dying and when it will occur); and 4) the family, including the impact of the child's illness and death on siblings and wanting to cherish as much time together with family as possible.

CONCLUSION

Parents of children receiving home-based PPC expressed concerns across a range of domains, both about their seriously ill child and the broader family. These results highlight salient worries among parents of children in PPC and point to critical areas for intervention for seriously ill children and the broader family.

Focuses and trends of the studies on pediatric palliative care：A bibliometric analysis from 2004 to 2018

Objectives

To investigate the focuses and trends of the studies on pediatric palliative care (PPC) and provide directions for future research.

Methods

Relevant papers about PPC published from 2004 to 2018 were analyzed using bibliometric analysis methods, including co-word analysis, biclustering analysis, and strategic diagram analysis. The included papers were divided into three groups based on the publication time, including 2004-2008, 2009-2013, and 2014-2018.

Results

A total of 1132 papers were published between 2004 and 2018, and there were 293 papers published between 2004 and 2008, 396 between 2009 and 2013, and 443 between 2014 and 2018. There were 42 high-frequency MeSH terms/MeSH subheadings in papers published between 2004 and 2018, including 12 between 2004 and 2008, 13 between 2009 and 2013, and 17 between 2014 and 2018.

Conclusion

Studies on PPC were making progress, with the increasing number, expanding scope, and uneven global distribution. Integration palliative care into pediatrics, cancer treatments in pediatric oncology, education methods on PPC, and establishment of professional teams were the major themes during 2004-2008, then the themes changed into establishing interventions to enhance the quality of life of the patients and parents, building professional-family relationship, and investigating attitude of health personnel in PPC during 2009-2013 and subsequently turned into communication skills, end-of-life decision making, and guidelines making on PPC during 2014-2018. Underdeveloped and protential themes including effective approaches to deal with the ethical dilemmas, training programs on communication skills, family support and guideline making are worth studying in the future.

Sources of Stress, Family Functioning, and Needs of Families With a Chronic Critically Ill Child: A Qualitative Study

PICU hospitalization is particularly stressful for families. When it is prolonged and the prognostic is uncertain, it can significantly and negatively affect the whole family. To date, little is known on how families with a chronic critically ill (CCI) child are affected. This national study explored the specific PICU-related sources of stress, family functioning and needs of families of CCI patients during a PICU hospitalization. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted in the eight pediatric intensive care units in Switzerland. Thirty-one families with a child meeting the CCI criteria participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews, including mothers only (n = 12), fathers only (n = 8), or mother and father dyads (n = 11), were conducted in German, French, or English by two trained researchers/clinical nurses specialists. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using deductive and inductive content analyses. Five overarching themes emerged: (1) high emotional intensity, (2) PICU-related sources of stress, (3) evolving family needs, (4) multi-faceted family functioning, and (5) implemented coping strategies. Our study highlighted the importance of caring for families with CCI children. Parents reported high negative emotional responses that affect their family functioning. Families experience was highly dependent on how HCPs were able to meet the parental needs, provide emotional support, reinforce parental empowerment, and allow high quality of care coordination.