Siblings of Children With Cancer and Their Challenges Across Everyday Life Contexts: A Two-Phase Qualitative Study in Denmark.
Minna Devantier, Mette Asbjoern Neergaard, Marianne Olsen and 2 others
PMID 40936422WHAT IT FOUND
Hospital routines, infection worries and treatment demands pushed siblings of children with cancer to the family's edge, leaving them absent, excluded and expected to cope while school staff often lacked support.
Key findings
01Siblings were rarely present at the hospital, even when their presence might be expected, and discharge uncertainty could keep them away.
02Signs and ward documents restricted siblings' access to food, and room layouts did not provide seating for both parents and siblings.
03School could be a break from cancer, but classmates and staff often lacked understanding, leaving siblings feeling misunderstood.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Qualitative study of experiences, so it cannot show that any support, hospital rule change or nurse conversation improves outcomes. Fieldwork in hospital wards introduced convenience-like sampling and staff gatekeeping, so some families may not have been approached. Only the first author had access to raw field notes, limiting cross-checking of codes. The study took place after the pandemic, when siblings had been barred from hospitals, and a second wave limited time at one site. The sample had limited ethnic diversity and an uneven parent-sibling ratio. Studying siblings' hospital absence is difficult because the phenomenon is partly invisible. Parents were not present for most sibling interviews, but recruitment through parents could still have created pressure to participate. The authors did not aim for conventional data saturation; they relied on information power from depth and context.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that changing hospital rules or nurse conversations will improve sibling well-being. The study describes experiences and barriers; it did not test an intervention.