Subproject 2: Counselling Manual

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Problem:

Children of parents with cancer are an identified risk group for mental illness. To date, only few intervention concepts with clinical reports have been published, and only some have been evaluated. There is no sufficient evidence for their preventive effectiveness. In addition, specific illness-, family- and age-related constellations make it necessary to adjust interventions to respective conditions. This means that standardized manuals need to be made more flexible by developing specific sub-manuals. A further problem is that psychosocial support services for children of cancer patients in outpatient counseling settings are mainly utilized by families with higher education status. Consequently, intervention concepts must be modified for families with lower educational status (outreach programs).

 

Aims:

Based on the COSIP Intervention Concept developed in the Hamburg Counseling Service “Children of Somatically Ill Parents”, which was evaluated in the previous COSIP project in a pilot study, a standardized manual for multi-center use will be developed and tested. Mid-term goal is the establishment of a sufficient evidence base to substantiate the necessity of making the involvement of parenting-focused and child-centered interventions a guideline standard in the psychosocial care of cancer patients with underage children.

 

Methods / Description of Work Plan

  • Training of all participating clinical centers in the clinical application of the Hamburg COSIP Counseling Concept.
  • Clinical implementation of the published Hamburg COSIP Counseling Concept in different centers, in part with different target group emphases (e.g. age- and diagnosis groups, palliative care context, etc.)
  • Clinical trial phase with continuous formative evaluation and regular, documented exchange of experience in workshops at network conferences.
  • Collective formulation of a needs-oriented, flexibly usable, standardized manual with several specific modules, among others:

 

Modules for illness-related situations:

  • Crisis intervention for the imminent death of a parent
  • Process support for children within the framework of palliative care
  • Preparation for high-risk treatments (e.g. bone marrow transplantation)
  • Information of children in cases of infaust prognosis (e.g. GBM)
  • Support for children with parents who develop personality changes due to brain alterations (parents with brain tumors)
  • Dealing with specific stressors during illness, for example first relapses after first treatments with initially promising outcomes
  • Guidance for girls during puberty whose mothers have breast cancer

 

Modules for family-related situations:

  • Support of single parents with cancer
  • Dealing with premorbid couple and family conflicts
  • Targeted interventions towards the support of sibling attachment as a resource
  • Supporting parental functions in a parent-only setting
  • Dealing with culture-specific issues in migrant families
  • Child-centered in-home family interventions (social worker outreach concept) for families with lower educational status

 

Modules for specific age groups:

  • Support of cognitive orientation for toddlers and pre-schoolers
  • Support in anticipatory grieving for adolescents
  • Support of young adult family members
  • Design of a training manual for intervention manual use
  • Multi-center testing of the manualized intervention in parallel pilot phases

 

Responsible:

 PD Dr. med. Georg Romer

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Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Uwe Koch

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Project Management:

Dr. phil. Birgit Möller

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Dr. phil. Corinna Bergelt

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University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

Center for Psychosocial Medicine

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Martinistraße 52, W35

20246 Hamburg

Telephone: 040 / 7410 - 52202

Clinic Homepage: www.uke.de/kliniken/kinderpsychiatrie

Project Homepage: www.uke.de/kliniken/kinderpsychiatrie/index_23145.php

 

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf

Center for Psychosocial Medicine

Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychosocial Medicine

Telephone: 040 / 7410 - 52863

Institute Homepage: http://zpm.uke.uni-hamburg.de/medpsych

Project Homepage: http://zpm.uke.uni-hamburg.de/4DACTION/W_AG_suche?L=P2&DieKreisID=KA125