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Aims To evaluate the acceptability and efficacy of a psycho-educational intervention designed to improve effective coping and reduce symptom severity in children with cancer. Background Cancer treatments increase survival rates and also cause physical and psychological effects on children with cancer. A psycho-educational intervention is used to assist children and adolescents with these effects and its efficacy has been described in several studies. Design A randomized controlled trial. Methods Participants being treated were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups from September 2011-February 2013 in Taiwan. The intervention group received a psycho-educational intervention in addition to standard care, while the control group received only standard care. Each participant was assessed using a paediatric cancer coping scale and perceived symptom severity was evaluated at three time points (baseline, 1 month and 3 months). A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to estimate the effects of intervention. Qualitative findings were analysed using content analysis. Results No significant difference in coping scores was found between groups, but the experimental group reported significantly lower scores in gastrointestinal problems and pain. Most symptoms decreased significantly over time in both groups, except for gastrointestinal problems. The scores in pain, bone marrow suppression and body image showed significant interaction effects between groups on changes over time. Qualitative results reported that participants evaluated the intervention positively, especially about receipt of psychological support and learnt coping skills. Conclusions The psycho-educational intervention administered was acceptable for children with cancer and was found to reduce gastrointestinal problems and pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. To report a study examining the relationships among coping, anxiety and resilience and to identify predictors of anxiety and resilience in adolescents undergoing cancer treatment. Background. Anxiety is the main psychological disturbance in adolescents with cancer, but predictors in the context of anxiety related cancer treatments have not been investigated. Design. Cross-sectional study. Methods. Adolescents ( n = 131) recruited from three medical centres between 2010-2011. The eligible participants were diagnosed with cancer, without mental disease and receiving chemotherapy. Participants were assessed with the paediatric cancer coping scale, revised children's manifest anxiety scale, second edition, and the Haase adolescent resilience in illness scale. Results. Over 20% of participants scored high on worry. The most commonly used coping strategy was cognitive coping, followed by problem-oriented coping and finally by defensive coping. There was a statistically significant correlation between defensive coping and level of worry. Resilience was positively correlated with cognitive coping and problem-oriented coping. The cognitive coping and defensive coping were found to predict anxiety and resilience significantly by a step-wise multiple regression analysis and accounted for 40·9% and 46·5% of total variance, respectively. Conclusions. Cognitive coping and defensive coping are predictors for the level of anxiety and resilience in adolescents undergoing cancer treatment. Health providers should evaluate coping behaviour in patients and work towards a cognitive and problem-oriented coping style that will benefit the patient's mental health during treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]