Pediatric Cancer Patients' Treatment-Related Distress and Longer-Term Anxiety: An Individual Differences Perspective.
Christopher J Trentacosta, Felicity W K Harper, Terrance L Albrecht and 3 others
PMID 27802258WHAT IT FOUND
Attention control was not directly associated with later treatment-related anxiety in children with cancer.
It was associated with greater resilience and less distress during procedures, and both were linked to lower anxiety.
Key findings
01Attention control was associated with less distress during procedures but not directly with treatment-related anxiety at 3 or 9 months.
02Attention control was related to 3-month treatment-related anxiety through ego-resilience and through distress during procedures.
03The links involving resilience were stronger for boys than for girls.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Most child temperament, resilience, and anxiety measures were parent-reported, so some associations may reflect one reporter's style. The distress score combined ratings from children, parents, nurses, and observers, but the other key variables did not have multiple reporters. The sample was 147, and the authors said it was not large for testing gender differences. Children's attention control and resilience were measured after cancer treatment had already started, not before diagnosis. Treatment-related anxiety was not measured at the start of treatment, so the study could not show change from baseline. Most children had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, so the findings may not apply equally to other pediatric cancers.
Declared interests
The article lists NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support. No author conflict-of-interest statement appears in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that training attention control or using distraction will reduce a child's cancer treatment anxiety. This study measured associations only; it did not test an intervention, and the gender differences were exploratory.