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Communicating with the dying child: An invitation to listening—a report of the SIOP working committee on psychosocial issues in pediatric oncology
Author(s) -
Jankovic Momcilo,
Spinetta John J.,
Masera Giuseppe,
Barr Ronald D.,
D'Angio Giulio J.,
Epelman Claudia,
Evans Audrey,
Kosmidis Helen Vasiliatou,
Eden Tim
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.21533
Subject(s) - active listening , psychosocial , pediatric oncology , medicine , content (measure theory) , psychiatry , psychotherapist , psychology , cancer , mathematical analysis , mathematics
This is the twelfth official document of the SIOP W orking Committee on Psychosocial Issues in Pediatric Oncology since its creation in 1991. This twelfth document describes the use of direct statements from the children themselves, solicited from parents and physicians, on how children of various ages approached their final days. The pa r nts and professionals who submitted the verbatim case examples were asked to present the ch ildren’s statements at the seminar as a stimulus for discussion. The children were seeking reassurances from their parents as they faced their own death, talking about a journey to a faraw ay place where they were going to go after they died and where they would eventually be joined by their parents. The themes are presented, not as exclusive and complete nor as scientifically va id, but solely as a stimulus for SIOP members to pursue in their respective centers and i n the r own cultural milieus this active “listening” approach in learning from the children themselves the type of concerns they have and the kind of support they are looking for as they e nter the terminal phase of their illness. INTRODUCTION The previous eleven documents of the SIOP Working C ommittee on Psychosocial Issues in Pediatric Oncology, developed at the annual SIOP me etings were prescriptive in nature, offered as guidelines to be implemented internationally in the treatment of children with cancer (*). This twelfth document in the series was developed, not a s a guideline, but as a procedure, an approach to supporting the children after treatment has been judged to be no longer effective and the difficult decision is made to move from the curativ e to the palliative and terminal phases of care. What kind of support is the dying child looking for ? Research over the years has shown that the great majority of children who enter palliation com e to an understanding, from what they see and