Adaptation of siblings to childhood malignancy

To explore the impact of childhood cancer, school-aged patients and their healthy siblings from 71 families were given one or more of the following psychologic tests: the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, the Bene-Anthony Family Relations Test, and the Thematic Apperception Test. The siblings showed even more distress than the patients in the areas of perceived social isolation, perception of their parents as overindulgent and overprotective of the sick child, fear of confronting family members with negative feelings, and concern with failure (older siblings only). In other areas, such as anxiety and vulnerability to illness and injury, the patients' and siblings' experience appeared very similar. These results indicate that siblings, like patients, experience severe stress when confronted with a chronic, life-threatening illness such as cancer. In recognizing and attending to their needs, one can practice primary prevention in pediatrics by facilitating their healthy adaptation to a very difficult situation.