Wellness in Chronic Care (WCC) families, illness & disability: an integrative clinical intervention model.

This paper describes the Wellness in Chronic Care (WCC) model, an innovative integrative clinical intervention method aimed at helping social workers manage the care of patients living with chronic illnesses and their families. The goal is to propose appropriate clinical responses to the changing reality of the health system. This new reality poses new challenges that require caregivers (social work practitioners and family members) to develop suitable skills and expertise. The intervention method we developed offers a new paradigm that entails partnership and the need to assume responsibility in decision-making while coping with the illness over time. The intervention provides practical tools and methods for coping and managing the illness. These factors have contributed to building a specifically tailored intervention program for patient and family care to achieve an effective and meaningful wellbeing. An assessment of the training program of the intervention model and its implementation is presented. The model was found to be essential yet some found it difficult to make the needed changes.

Perceptions of children with cancer and their parents regarding illness: A qualitative study.

PURPOSE: The current study aims to understand inter-generational differences and similarities in the perception of illness and the available resources employed by children with cancer and their parents. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive research design was utilized, including face-to-face interviews with 108 parent-child dyads where the children had been diagnosed with cancer, by means of a semi-structured questionnaire. The participants were recruited from two pediatric hematology-oncology wards in two different hospitals in Israel. The data were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis. Debriefing and inter-rater reliability methods were utilized. FINDINGS: Similarities were found between the coping of children and parents with the illness. Children with cancer and their parents can find bright sides and support for coping, such as different perspectives on life, faith, positive thoughts, and family assistance. Most of the differences between the perceptions of children and parents relate to the difficulties encountered. While parents are mainly concerned about the long-term impact, children contend with ordeals involving the here-and-now. CONCLUSIONS: Parents and children demonstrate a dual process in their challenging journey. Positive and facilitating factors are intertwined with the aggravating aspects, which exist side by side. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Nursing staff should advise children and their parents to attain and use external and internal sources of support found in this study to help them deal with cancer.

Well-being in parents of children with cancer: illness perceptions' mediating role for hope and social support.

Introduction: Parents of children with cancer may experience enormous physical and emotional pressures. During such times, perception of the situation can be important in mediating the link between one's basic resources (mainly cognitive and social) and the well-being one attains as an emotional and cognitive response. This study aimed to explore the role of illness impact perceptions in mediating the link between hope, social support and subjective well-being in parents of children with cancer. Methods: The cross-sectional study included 108 parents of children aged 7-18 diagnosed with cancer at least 6 months prior to the study. The parents completed one questionnaire comprising five instruments: perceived impact of illness, hope, social support, positive and negative affect (the emotional component of well-being) and life satisfaction (the cognitive component of well-being). Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations were conducted for all study variables. SEM analysis was performed to examine the study's theoretical model. Results: The current sample included 108 parents of children with cancer recruited from two pediatric hematology-oncology wards in two different hospitals in central Israel. Most participants were mothers (70.4%), and the mean age was 44.46. The main results indicated that hope and social support correlated negatively with perceptions of the illness' impact. Illness impact perceptions mediated the relations between hope, social support and positive emotions, which means that when the parents perceived their child's illness as less impactful on the family, they experienced higher levels of emotional well-being. Conclusion: A parent with social support resources and higher levels of hope experiences higher levels of positive perceptions regarding their child's illness. Higher levels of positive perceptions allow the parent to express more positive than negative emotions, thus maintaining a more optimal level of subjective emotional well-being. The findings offer implications for healthcare teams to enhance sensitivity to parents' needs and to help parents attain more resources, positive perceptions, and well-being.

Psychological and cytokine changes in children and adolescents undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a therapeutic option of a large variety of diseases. It involves several physiological and psychological changes. Investigations of mood changes in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are common. There are no studies however, on the relationship between changes in mood and physiological changes in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children and adolescents. We investigated the correlation between anxiety, depression and serum Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-2 and IL-6. METHODS: Participants, 11 boys and 12 girls, aged 6-18 years, were administered the Children Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory for Children (SAIC), at four different points in time: at conditioning time when treatment is initiated (time 1 = T1), on the day of hematopoietic transplantation (T2), on the day of engraftment (T3) and a week after the engraftment (T4). At each of those times serum samples for cytokines determination were collected as well. RESULTS: Up to the time of engraftment depression and anxiety were relatively high but resolved subsequently. Globally, there was a significant time effect for anxiety (p = 0.0082). Namely, scores differ between times. Depression showed a similar trend, though this trend did not reach significance (p = 0.1394). Negative correlation was found between serum IL-1beta, IL-2 and IL-6 levels and anxiety (IL-2 and IL-6) and depression scores (IL-1beta and IL-2) at T4. The complex interaction between cytokines, depression and anxiety in children and adolescents undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation merits further long-term studies under natural conditions and on laboratory models.

Bereaved Jewish mothers of children who died of cancer: the relationship between the mother and the deceased child and the mother's perceived functioning.

BACKGROUND: Coping with grief after a child's death is a complex and dynamic process. The Two-Track Model of Bereavement, which served as the theoretical framework for this study, examines biopsychosocial reactions to bereavement (track I) and attachment to the deceased (track II). OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to identify differences in mothers' perceived functioning between bereaved mothers and mothers of children with cancer, describe mother-child relationships and relationship development over the course of illness and death, and describe the association between the 2 tracks. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional study of 50 Jewish bereaved mothers and a matched comparison group of 50 Jewish mothers to children with cancer aged 6 to 18 years completed structured questionnaires. RESULTS: No difference was found between the groups in overall maternal functioning. Bereaved mothers keep a relationship with their deceased child. Among mothers of currently ill children, there was a difference in the mean score of the mother-child relationship with the child before and after the cancer diagnosis. A negative correlation was found between the bereaved mother's relationship with the deceased child and her functioning; this was not found in the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: Mother-child relationships become closer following the cancer diagnosis and change further following the child's death. The relationship with the deceased child is an integral part of the bereaved mother's life and influences her functioning. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Training programs for nurses need to be developed to help nurses be sensitive to maternal loss and grief and to incorporate the bereaved mother's relationship with her deceased child into interventions.

The presence of nursing students and its influence on the quality of care provided by staff nurses.

BACKGROUND: Research on the field practice of nursing students has focused mainly on the effects of this experience for the students. Although it has been suggested that the presence of students may influence the behavior of practitioners, this has yet to be empirically validated. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis claiming the presence of students in hospital wards will improve the quality of care given by the nurses. The theoretical model supporting this was based on 2 main concepts: self-focus and social role. METHOD: Systematic observations were carried out in 15 hospital wards in a medical center in Israel. Observations were conducted according to a strict protocol based on the Israeli Standard Nursing Procedures. Observers graded nursing activities on a specially designed quality of care scale, which allowed for the computing of "quality of care" indices. A within-subject design was used, in which each subject was compared with his or her own performance (with/without students). RESULTS: The results were consistent with the hypothesis. In the presence of students, nurses provided higher quality care when compared with their own performance in the absence of students. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of students seemed to have a beneficial effect on nurses' performance and quality of care. Data analysis supported the hypothesized theoretical model. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.