Clinical trial NCT06858163: Coping and Attachment in Pediatric Oncohematology
Official title: Coping and Attachment in Pediatric Oncohematology: Multicenter Cross-sectional Study to Assess Emotional Resources and Attachment Dynamics Related to Coping Strategies in Parents of Children with Oncohematologic Disease
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Conditions: Pediatric Cancer
Coping Behavior
Relationship, Parent Child
Lead sponsor: Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo di Pavia
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Fondazione Soleterre - Strategie di Pace ONLUS
name: Università Pavia - Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento
name: Università Cattolica Milano - Unità di ricerca sul Trauma, Dipartimento di Psicologia
First posted: 2025-03-05
Enrollment: 60
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 8
Maximum age (years): 17
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Parents (single/father and mother) of patients in care of Pediatric Oncohematology departments who meet the inclusion criteria and pediatric patients in treatment at the Pediatric Oncohematology departments who meet the inclusion criteria.

Brief summary: Cancer can be a traumatic and particularly salient experience in a person's history. The ways in which the pediatric patient copes with it depend on the interaction of several factors present in his or her life context, primarily the relationship that is established between parent and child.

Despite the paucity of studies in the literature in this regard, it would seem that parental coping is predictive of child coping. Coping strategies represent the ways in which people try to manage traumatic events or stressful everyday situations.

Currently, the literature identifies two main categories of coping strategies: emotion-oriented and problem-oriented strategies. The former are aimed on reducing stress-induced unpleasant emotions (e.g., problem avoidance, positive reappraisal, etc.); the latter, on the other hand, focus on stress dissolution/alteration (e.g., problem identification and resolution, stress cause research). Some studies, previously conducted in oncology, show that emotion-focused coping strategies are associated with better adaptation immediately after diagnosis, but their positive influence tends to weaken over time; problem-focused coping strategies are more correlated with poor adaptation immediately after diagnosis, but in the later stages of treatment.

The clinical experience with patients in the Pediatric Oncohematology Department brings out the need to develop and structure a psychological assessment model, in order to ensure a more effective care of the family units followed.

The research aims, through a single administration of psychological tests, to investigate the role of attachment and some variables (age, gender, stage of treatment, stage of the disease, social support, resilience, ability to adapt to environmental stimuli, emotional state of of caregivers) on the coping strategies implemented by the parents of patients and the patients themselves, in order to differentiate the types of psychological intervention, to try to reduce psychological distress and increase levels of mental well-being.


Eligibility criteria: Parents Inclusion Criteria:

* parents of both sexes
* age of son/daughter between 8 and 17 years old (included)
* son/daughter being treated at the Pediatric Oncohematology departments involved in the research (Day Hospital and hospitalization)
* good understanding of the Italian language

Parents Exclusion Criteria:

● son/daughter in off-therapy

Patients Inclusion Criteria:

* age between 8 and 17 years old (included), undergoing treatment at the Pediatric Oncohematology departments (Day Hospital and hospitalization)
* parents enrolled in the study
* good understanding of the Italian language

Patients Exclusion Criteria:

● patients in off-therapy

Primary outcomes:
measure: Child-Parent Relationship Scale
timeFrame: One time just after the enrollment
measure: Coping Orientations to Problem Experienced
timeFrame: One time just after the enrollment
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Monza
country: Italy
facility: Ospedale San Gerardo, SC Ematologia Pediatrica
state: Monza-Brianza
city: Pavia
country: Italy
facility: SC Ematologia 2 - Oncoematologia pediatrica
city: Taranto
country: Italy
facility: Struttura Complessa di Pediatria e Oncoematologia Pediatrica, Ospedale SS Annunziata
Study officials:
References:
citation: Lazarus, R. S., and Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York, NY: Springer.
citation: Sica, C., Magni, C., Ghisi, M., Altoè, G., Sighinolfi, C., Chiri, L. R., & Franceschini, S. (2008). Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced-Nuova Versione Italiana (COPE-NVI): uno strumento per la misura degli stili di coping. Psicoterapia cognitiva e comportamentale, 14(1), 27.
citation: Monti JD, Winning A, Watson KH, Williams EK, Gerhardt CA, Compas BE, Vannatta K. Maternal and Paternal Influences on Children's Coping with Cancer-Related Stress. J Child Fam Stud. 2017 Jul;26(7):2016-2025. doi: 10.1007/s10826-017-0711-y. Epub 2017 Apr 17.