2Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep-Turkey
3Department of Family Medicine, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep-Turkey
4Department of Psychiatry, Haseki Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul-Turkey
5Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ankara City Hospital, Ankara-Turkey DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2020.2419 OBJECTIVE
Pediatric cancers may have traumatic, adverse effects on healthy siblings of children with cancer. The majority of studies on the subject have been performed in Western societies, and few controlled studies implementing validated surveys have been performed. The aim of this study is to investigate the quality of life, prevalence of anxiety and depression and associated factors in healthy siblings of children with cancer.
METHODS
CONCLUSION
Sixty children aged 8-16 years-old with siblings with cancer were included as the case group and sixty
children with siblings without cancer were enrolled as the control group. The Revised Child Anxiety
and Depression Scale (RCAD-S) and the Questionnaire for Quality of Life Assessment for Children and
Adolescents Parent Form (Kid-KINDL) were used to evaluate anxiety/depression symptoms and quality
of life respectively.
The case group consisted of 30 boys and 30 girls (12.08±2.61 years), and the control group of 31 boys and
29 girls (11.40±2.11 years). Depression/anxiety symptoms were significantly higher in the case group
than in the control group (p<0.05). Quality of life total score was significantly lower in the case group
than in the control group (p<0.05). Being siblings of same gender was determined to be associated with
impaired quality of life (B=8.81 CI: 1.56-49.65, p=0.014) and presence of depression/anxiety (B=6.89
CI: 1.29-36.72, p=0.024).
Professionals should include healthy siblings of children with cancer when assessing the psychosocial
effect of pediatric cancer, and should adopt a multidimensional approach in caring for healthy siblings
of children with cancer.