[I'm still here - Training for the Siblings of Chronically Ill or Handicapped Children]

Siblings of chronically ill or handicapped children are exposed to increased stress as a result of their special life situation. This can lead to psychological abnormalities. International studies show that programs for siblings can reduce this risk. In Germany, there is a lack of compact educational programs for siblings. Such an offer was tested with this workshop. In the one-day group training, coping strategies were developed and disease knowledge conveyed in order to reduce fears. The parents receive parallel training.

Altogether 19 sibling workshops were held. Before and six weeks after the training, standardized questionnaires were used to record sibling distress, mental health problems, and their health-related quality of life as well as family burden. T-tests for dependent samples were used to check the changes before and after training.

Ninety-two children (average age 9.6 years; 54% female) and their parents took part in the training. From the parents' point of view, 32.5% of the children initially had an increased risk of psychological distress because of the family situation. After the training, this was reduced to 25.3%. The mental health problems were significantly reduced, as was the overall family burden. According to the self-assessment, the quality of life of the children improved.

The families seem to benefit from the compact training. The workshop was applicable for families of children with different diseases and in different settings.