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Impact of a family‐oriented rehabilitation programme on behavioural and emotional problems in healthy siblings of chronically ill children
Author(s) -
Besier T.,
Hölling H.,
Schlack R.,
West C.,
Goldbeck L.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2010.01085.x
Subject(s) - sibling , rehabilitation , medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , population , clinical psychology , pediatrics , physical therapy , psychology , developmental psychology , nursing , environmental health
Objective To evaluate the impact of a family‐oriented inpatient rehabilitation programme on behavioural and emotional problems in healthy siblings of chronically ill children and to assess the association between these problems and quality of life. Methods A total of 259 healthy children (4–16 years, M = 8.6 years, SD = 3.3) with a chronically ill sibling were enrolled in the study. Parents filled in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, while the children answered a self‐report quality of life instrument (LQ‐KID) at the time of admission and discharge from the clinic and at a 6‐month follow‐up. Comparisons were performed with a matched control group from the German general population ( n = 777). Results Significant behavioural or emotional symptoms were found in 30.5% of the healthy siblings, the relative risk of having elevated scores being 2.2 compared with the control group. Symptoms were inversely correlated with quality of life ( r =−0.42). During the inpatient rehabilitation, symptoms decreased significantly to a normal level. Similarly, quality of life significantly improved, except in the dimension family relations. Conclusions Family‐oriented inpatient rehabilitation is a promising approach to improve the mental health of children with a chronically ill sibling.