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Qol and Patients' Care

Preliminary efficacy of a brief family intervention to prevent declining quality of life secondary to parental bone marrow transplantation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 52, pages 285–291 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The primary purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of a brief, cost-effective family-focused intervention to promote adaptive coping and quality of life throughout a parent’s bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Targeted outcomes were cohesion, decreased use of avoidance coping, open communication and effective management of emotional distress. Participants included an intervention group of 31 families and 29 families in a control group who received usual care. Each family included the BMT recipient, a partner/caregiver and children 10–18 years old. The intervention included two dyadic sessions for the BMT recipient and the partner/caregiver, one individual session for the caregiver and two digital video discs (DVDs) for children. Statistical analyses indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on at least one aspect of the adaptation of each family member. Caregivers reported the most distress but benefitted least from the intervention, whereas recipients and children reported improvement in distress. Ratings of satisfaction/acceptability were high, with 97% responding that they would recommend the intervention to others. Plans for future research include increased intervention intensity for the caregiver, a larger more diverse sample and implementation over an extended period post BMT.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participating families for sharing their experiences with us. We thank the BMT Programs of Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati and St Francis Medical Center of Indianapolis for the participation of their BMT recipients and families. We also thank Lyn Sontag and Vickie Alfrey respectively for their coordination with this study. We also thank our colleagues Linda Brown and Daniel Pesut for the roles they assumed in creation of the DVDs. Grants from the American Cancer Society (RSGPB-05-012-01-CPPB) and NIH (R21NR01223) supported this research. The content in this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    B L Fife

  2. Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    D M Von Ah & M L Spath

  3. University of Florida School of Nursing, Gainesville, FL, USA

    M T Weaver

  4. Division of Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Z Yang & T Stump

  5. Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    S Farag

Authors
  1. B L Fife
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  2. D M Von Ah
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  3. M L Spath
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  4. M T Weaver
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  5. Z Yang
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  6. T Stump
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  7. S Farag
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Correspondence to B L Fife.

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Fife, B., Von Ah, D., Spath, M. et al. Preliminary efficacy of a brief family intervention to prevent declining quality of life secondary to parental bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 52, 285–291 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.267

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