Brief Report: Does Posttraumatic Stress Apply to Siblings of Childhood Cancer Survivors?

Alderfer, Melissa A. PhD
Labay, Larissa E. PsyD
Kazak, Anne E. PhD, ABPP

¹The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
²University of Pennsylvania

All correspondence should be sent to Melissa Alderfer at Division of Oncology, Rm. 1489 Market, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th & Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. E-mail: [email protected].

Received February 11, 2002; revisions received April 17, 2002, and June 26, 2002; accepted July 1, 2002

Journal of Pediatric Psychology 28(4):p 281-286, June 2003.

Objective

To investigate whether adolescent siblings of childhood cancer survivors experience posttraumatic stress (PTS).

Methods

Participants included 78 adolescent siblings of adolescent cancer survivors who completed self-report measures of anxiety, PTS, and perceptions of the cancer experience.

Results

Nearly half (49%) of our sample reported mild PTS and 32% indicated moderate to severe levels. One fourth of siblings thought their brother/sister would die during treatment; over half found the cancer experience scary and difficult. These perceptions were related to PTS. Siblings reported more PTS symptoms than a reference group of nonaffected teens but had similar levels of general anxiety.

Conclusions

Levels of PTS are elevated for siblings of childhood cancer survivors. Thus, PTS may be a useful model for understanding siblings’ long-term reactions to cancer. Future research and clinical efforts should consider the needs of siblings of childhood cancer survivors in a family context.