Resilience in Pediatric oncology Patients

Resilience in Pediatric Oncology Patients

Some people are able to get through traumatic events and cope with their situation much better than others. Our group was interested in why this was the case for pediatric oncology patients? Thus, the concept we chose to research was resilience. Resilience is associated with terms such as, hardiness, quick to recover, and rebounding. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2002) defines resilience as "an ability to recover from or adjust easily to change or misfortune" (p. 596). Our group chose three articles to look at resilience in the population of pediatric oncology patients. The three articles we chose were Resilience: A Concept Analysis Article (Earvolino-Ramirez, 2007), Factors Associated with Resilience of School Age Children with Cancer (Kim & Yoo, 2010), and Family Resiliency in Childhood Cancer (McCubbin, Balling, Possin, Frierdich and Bryne, 2002).

The first article was a concept analysis that was performed on resilience. In this article it defined resilience as the ability to bounce back or cope successfully despite substantial adversity (Rutter, 1985). The study discussed the defining attributes of resilience as being rebounding and reintegration, high expectancy and self-determination, positive relationships and social support, flexibility (easy temperament), and sense of humor self-esteem and self-efficacy. They showed that most adolescents that had these attributes displayed resilience in their situation.

The second article defined resilience as the idea that everyone had positive power and strength to overcome stress or difficult situations (Kim & Yoo, 2010). There were several key factors that played a role which included: characteristics, personality, and home and school environment. The study in this article focused on 74 children ages 10-15 years old. The participating children in this study were diagnosed with cancer at least 6 months prior to the study. Data collection took place over the course of about 2.5 months and focused on the children themselves as the resilient individuals. After consent from the parents, children were asked to complete several measures, including ones such as, The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale. The goal of the study was to identify factors that were associated with resilience in children.

The results indicated that children who reported better family adaptability and cohesion and a positive relationships with friends and teachers, showed significantly higher scores on the resilience scale developed by the researchers. An interesting factor was that relationship with the teachers was not a significant predictor of resilience when a multivariate regression analysis was completed; Though relationship with family and friends still were. Researchers believed that this ma have been an indication that the relationship with the teachers on its own was not a contributor to resilience, but could influence how the child's peers interacted with them.

The third article defined resilience as the positive behavioral patterns and functional competencies individuals and the family unit demonstrate under stressful or adverse circumstances, which determine the family's ability to recover by maintaining its integrity as a unit while insuring, and where necessary restoring, the well-being of family members and the family unit as a whole. ((McCubbin, Balling, Possin, Frierdich and Bryne, 2002). The article was an in depth interview of 42 parents in 26 families who, within the past three years, had a child who was treated for cancer. Unlike the previous two articles, the study in this article focused on six factors that contributed to resilience in the family of the child diagnosed.

The first factor was internal family strength of rapid mobilization and reorganization. When hearing your child is diagnosed with cancer, the ability to move quickly to respond is tested. During this phase, parents must establish new roles. For example, in a two-parent household, one parent would managing the home to provide care for other siblings; work full time to maintain insurance while the other parent remained in the hospital. Collaboration becomes important in this phase.

Extended family support (Second

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