Family Intervention for Young Women with Breast Cancer
Abstract
Psychosocial interventions effectively reduce psychological morbidity in cancer patients, but young woman with breast cancer and their families have not yet been targeted for such intervention. A pilot study assessed the impact of breast cancer on the families of younger women, focusing on parental adjustment, family coping and the adjustment of preschool and school age children. Based on this pilot data, a Basic psychosocial intervention involving a group for breast cancer patients and their spouses and an Expanded intervention that adds groups for children were developed. Baseline data on 34 families enrolled reveals that the psychosocial functioning of 91% of the women was within normal limits, whereas 41% of spouses endorsed clinical levels of psychological distress. Children exhibited few emotional or behavioral problems, although school aged girls scored below boys in scholastic self-competence. Global scales of family functioning revealed competency in coping, with a subset of families exhibiting distress on measures of psychosocial functioning and family coping. No significant differences were found at 4 months follow up for families in the intervention groups. Analyses of the 8 months follow-up data, including predictors of response to the interventions are pending.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA405333
Entities
People
- Sally E. Tarbell
Organizations
- University of Pittsburgh