The Effectiveness of Bibliotherapy on Emotional Distress, Coping Strategies and Resilience of Adolescents With Cancer
Condition: Emotional Distress; Pediatric Cancer
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Adolescents with cancer who were diagnosed within two years suffered severe emotional
      distress. Bibliotherapy therapy uses healing materials as a medium to enable individuals
      experiencing emotional distress to obtain emotional healing through story situations, thereby
      enhancing resilience. However, there is a lack of research on bibliotherapy in adolescents
      with cancer. Therefore, the investigators would like to evaluate the effectiveness of
      interactive bibliotherapy in improving emotional distress and coping strategies and enhancing
      the resilience of adolescents with cancer compared to reading bibliotherapy.
    

Detailed description: 
      A multicenter randomized controlled trial will be conducted. Adolescents aged 10 to 19 years
      and diagnosed with cancer or relapse during the first two years will be included in the
      study. Seventy participants from three medical centers in northern Taiwan will be assigned to
      experimental or comparison groups through blocked randomization. The experimental group will
      receive the interactive bibliotherapy twice, and the comparison group will receive the
      reading bibliotherapy twice. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Pediatric Cancer
      Coping Scale, and Haase Adolescent Resilience in Illness Scale will be used to measure
      participants' emotional distress, coping strategies and resilience at the time points of
      pre-intervention, after the intervention, and follow-up for a month after the intervention.
      An interview will be conducted over the intervention for a month. The generalized estimating
      equation will be used to analyze the two groups' emotional distress, coping strategies, and
      resilience. The content analysis will be performed to analyze the interview data. It is hoped
      that the results of this study can prove that bibliotherapy has the potential to improve
      emotional distress and coping strategies and enhance resilience in adolescents with cancer.
      This study is expected to provide health providers with novel evidence on the effectiveness
      of an intervention to take care of patients with cancer. Furthermore, this study provides an
      interdisciplinary intervention of nursing and other domain, and it may be extended to further
      research to improve patient care quality through cross-disciplinary coordination.
    

Intervention name(s): interactive bibliotherapy; reading bibliotherapy
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): The researcher selected two picture books whose central issues are about the common emotional distress of adolescents with cancer, that is, negative emotion coping, and self-worth. The researcher will read the story to the participant and then use the interview guideline to discuss it with him or her one by one. The interview guideline for interactive bibliotherapy is listed according to the mechanism of bibliotherapy, including identification, catharsis, and insight, and additional questions leading a reader to think deeply.; The researcher selected two picture books whose central issues are about the common emotional distress of adolescents with cancer, that is, negative emotion coping, and self-worth. The participant can take 20 to 25 minutes to read the story. No one can bother the participant during the intervention.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: adolescent; bibliotherapy; emotional distress; coping; resilience