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Cited by 23Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of LifePalliative and Oncologic CareFamily Support in Illness

Survey of psychosocial support provided by UK paediatric oncology centres

Open access
Mitchell, W·2005·Archives of Disease in Childhood
DOI 10.1136/adc.2004.065177PMC PMC1720544
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Abstract

AIM: To obtain a comprehensive overview of current patterns of psychosocial support provided by National Health Service (NHS) paediatric oncology treatment centres across the UK. METHODS: A postal questionnaire was sent to co-ordinators in the UK Children's Cancer Study Group (a professional body that is responsible for the organisation of treatment and management of childhood cancer in the UK) in 21 treatment centres and three separate Teenage Cancer Trus units. A range of psychosocial topics were explored, including ratio of staff providing support to patients; facilities provided for children and families; psychosocial support services such as support groups; information provision; and transition support. RESULTS: There were many good areas of support provided by centres, but there was also a lack of standard practices and procedures. All centres employed social workers, play specialists, and paediatric oncology outreach nurses, but patient to staff ratios varied across centres. The poorest staff provision was among psychologists, where patient to staff ratios ranged from 132:1 to 1100:1. Written information was standard practice, while provision of other types of information (audiovisual, online) varied; none of the centres provided audio information specifically for children/young people. CONCLUSION: This variability in practices among centres frequently occurred, as centres rarely had procedures formally agreed or recorded in writing. British government policy currently seeks to develop standards and guidelines of care throughout the National Health Service. This study further demonstrates the importance of standards and the need to agree guidelines for the provision of psychosocial support for children/young people and their families throughout the course of the illness.

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  • Limited access to established support services or psychosocial professionals is a barrier to palliative care.

    “Further barriers include limited access to established support services[43] or psychosocial professionals,[11,52] thus compelling advocacy for improved palliative care education for general health providers.[8,17,54–56]”

    From Palliative Care as a Standard of Care in Pediatric Oncology (2015) · cites this paper as [52]

    The ‘Staff providing psychosocial support’ section reports limited counselling and psychology staffing at UK paediatric oncology centres; the Discussion also identifies an absence of psychological input in assessment and support. This supports limited access to psychosocial professionals, the part attached to this citation, but the survey does not establish that the shortage is specifically a barrier to palliative care. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • The target population for palliative care includes patients and individuals formative in the child's social and relational spheres, such as siblings, parents or guardians, grandparents, or other extended relatives.

    “The target population for palliative care includes not only patients but also those individuals identified as formative in the child’s social and relational spheres, whether siblings, parents or guardians, grandparents, or other extended relatives.[15,31,40,52,61]”

    From Palliative Care as a Standard of Care in Pediatric Oncology (2015) · cites this paper as [52]

    The Introduction describes psychosocial support for children with cancer and their families, and the Support groups and bereavement support section lists groups for patients, parents, siblings, and grandparents. The paper does not define the target population for palliative care; its findings concern psychosocial support at UK paediatric oncology centres. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [7]7. Eiser C, Hill J and Blacklay A. Surviving cancer: What does it mean for you? An evaluation of a clinic based intervention for survivors of childhood cancer. Psycho-Oncology 2000; 9:214-220.
  2. [12]12. Halliday J. Malignant disease in children: A view of a general practitioner and parent. In Baum JD, Sister F Dominica and Woodward RN, eds. Listen. My Child has a lot of Living to Do. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 1990:19-27.

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Authors
Mitchell, W.
Affiliations
University of York (GB)
Corresponding author
Mitchell, W
Venue
Archives of Disease in Childhood
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2005-08-01
Volume
90
Issue
8
Pages
796-800
ISSN
  • 0003-9888 (ISSN-L)
  • 1468-2044
DOI
10.1136/adc.2004.065177
PMC
PMC1720544
OpenAlex
W2130773942
Semantic Scholar
baf9fb2e140a9cab07d59e5d484eeb56c2ccac1f
Cited by
23
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1
FWCI
0.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Archives of Disease in Childhood (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (submittedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
Funders
Teenage Cancer Trust
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
Keywords
psychosocial support, pediatric oncology, childhood cancer, social workers, play specialists, support groups, information provision, transition support, standard of care, National Health Service
MeSH terms
Child, Counseling, Family Health, United Kingdom, Home Care Services, Hospitals, Pediatric, Humans, Neoplasms, Patient Education as Topic, Psychology, Social Support, State Medicine, Oncology Service, Hospital, Hospice Care, Health Care Surveys

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