Purpose: Caring for children with cancer is considerably stressful for parents and may negatively affect their physical and psychological well-being. Resilience plays a pivotal role in maintaining psychological well-being in the face of stress and adversity. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of psychological interventions in promoting resilience among parents of children with cancer.
Methods: Five English databases and two Chinese databases were subjected to a systematic search from inception to March 2020. The methodological quality of the included randomised controlled trials was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool (RoB 2.0). Meta-analyses and descriptive analyses were used. Subgroup analyses of the intervention modes and time since diagnosis were also conducted.
Results: Five studies involving 308 participants were included. The systematic review identified three types of psychological intervention, namely resilience training, self-disclosure and peer support, which had different essential components and characteristics. The meta-analyses of three randomised controlled trials revealed that the psychological interventions enhanced parents' resilience with a large effect size (Hedges' adjusted g 0.92; 95% CI 0.22, 1.62; p = .01).
Conclusion: Evidence supports the effectiveness of psychological interventions for enhancing resilience in the parents of children with cancer. Healthcare professionals can incorporate evidence-based psychological interventions to enhance resilience to help these parents better navigate adversity, adapt to their children's situations and improve their psychological well-being.
Keywords: Cancer; Children; Meta-analysis; Parents; Psychological intervention; Resilience.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.