Social support for siblings of children with cancer

This descriptive study investigated nursing interventions used by pediatric oncology nurses to provide social support to siblings of children with cancer. The study was guided by House's conceptualization of social support which includes components of emotional, instrumental, informational, and appraisal support. A sample of 250 randomly selected pediatric oncology nurses were mailed the Sibling Social Support Questionnaire (SSSQ), developed by the researcher, to determine what interventions they use in clinical practice to provide social support to siblings of children with cancer. With 134 nurse respondents, the SSSQ demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of .95). Results indicated that the two most frequently used nursing interventions to provide social support to siblings are: (1) encouraging parents to spend time with their other children and (2) providing honest responses to questions asked by siblings.