Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2022

Effectiveness of a novel cross-sector in-hospital service for parents who are cancer patients and their adolescent and young adult children (#369)

Xiomara Skrabal Ross 1 , Fiona E.J McDonald 1 2 , Stephanie Konings 3 , Elena Schiena 4 , Jo Phipps-Nelson 5 , Fran Hodgson 6 , Pandora Patterson 1 2
  1. Canteen Australia, Newtown, NSW, Australia
  2. Faculty of Medicine & Health, The University of Sydney , Sydney , New South Wales, Australia
  3. Psycho-Oncology Department, Clinique Saint-Jean, Brussels, Belgium
  4. Department of Allied Health, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia
  5. Office of Cancer Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  6. Social Work , John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Aims

Parental cancer poses psychosocial challenges for parents and their adolescent and young adult (AYA) children, with common concerns including confidence in parenting ability and communication about cancer with their AYA children. To address this, a novel cross-sector service (Parent Support Worker; PSW) supporting parent-patients, their partners, and AYA children was implemented and evaluated in three Australian hospitals. This presentation focuses on the effectiveness of the PSW service, parent satisfaction, and the impact of the service on families.

Methods

In this mixed-methods study, parents’ psychological distress (K10), parenting concerns (PV9 and PCQ), and parents’ cancer self-efficacy in helping their children (CASE Help Child sub-scale) were assessed pre-service (before their first PSW session) and post-service (3 months after pre-service survey) (N=36). Satisfaction with the PSW service was explored with this sample, a separate sample of 43 service users, and via semi-structured interviews: the latter also exploring the impact of the service.

Results

Significant decreases were found in levels of psychological distress (Mean T0=22.7, T1=19.4, p=0.001), stress associated with parents’ concerns (Mean T0=5.6, T1= 3.9; p=0.005), and the severity of parenting-related concerns during cancer (PCQ; Mean T0=2.9, T1=2.3; p=0.001). Parental confidence in their ability to help their child with cancer-related concerns significantly increased at post-service (Mean T0=46.7, T1=62.8, p=0.001). Satisfaction with the PSW service was very high. Key themes from the interviews were: Cancer Affects the Whole Family, Positive Impact of the Service on Families, Improved Parenting and Communication Issues, and Need for PSWs to Follow-Up with Parents.

Conclusions

Along with high levels of parent-reported satisfaction, the PSW service was found to be effective in improving parents’ psychosocial and parenting outcomes. These findings provide evidence for the clinical utility and need for integrated, cross-sector care to support families impacted by cancer.