MATERNAL COPING STRATEGIES IN RESPONSE TO A CHILD’S CHRONIC AND ONCOLOGICAL DISEASE. A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY – ITALY & PORTUGAL

Background: A child’s chronic or oncological disease is a stressful condition for parents, that may affect the adaptive management helpful for warranting the child’s wellbeing to a disease. Particularly, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable “culture” and parental strategies to cope with child’s severe disease, by a comparison between Italian and Portuguese mothers. Design and Methods: This research inquires differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of child with chronic or oncological disease. Participants are two mothers’ groups: 59 Italian mothers (M=37,7; SD=4,5) and 36 Portuguese mothers (M=3…

Coping strategies and locus of control in childhood leukemia: a multi-center research

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a very distressing experience for children and requires a special effort of adjustment. Therefore, it seems to be crucial to explore coping resources for the experienced risk condition. In this sense, the study focuses on coping strategies and locus of control in children with ALL during the treatment phase, and on their possible relation. The correlation between children and maternal coping strategies is also investigated. The participants involved were an experimental group of 40 children with ALL and their mothers, and 30 healthy children as the control group. The tools used were: the Child Behavioral Style Scale and the Monitor-Blunter Style Scale t…

The Relation Between Maternal Locus of Control And Coping Styles of Pediatric Leukemia Patients During Treatment

The present study focuses on the relation between coping strategies of children with leukemia during treatment and locus of control of their mothers. In particular, the study aims to determine whether maternal locus of control can influence sick children’s coping styles, and if this relation can be used to predict maladjustments. The study analyzed a cohort of 60 pediatric leukemia patients undergoing treatment and a group formed by their mothers. The participants were recruited from two Pediatric Onco- Hematology Units in Italy. The Child Behavioral Style Scale (CBSS) was used to assess children’s coping strategies, whereas the Parental Health Locus of Control Scale (PHLCS) was employed to…

Sibling relationships as a resource for coping with traumatic events.

The study investigated the correlation between the perception of sibling relationship to cope an adverse occurrence – the partial collapse of a primary school – and the indicators related to the traumatic impact set off by the event, by soliciting the child’s reminiscence of the catastrophic experience. One hundred trauma-exposed children were recruited from a Sicilian primary school and were administered the following research instruments: the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC-A), to investigate the traumatized response that can be triggered in the children involved; the Brother as a Resource Questionnaire (BRQ), to delve into the perception of sibling relationship as a resource.…

Sibling relationship as a resource to cope a traumatic event.

The study investigated the correlation between the perception of sibling relationship to cope an adverse occurrence – the partial collapse of a primary school – and the indicators related to the traumatic impact set off by the event, by soliciting the child’s reminiscence of the catastrophic experience. One hundred trauma-exposed children were recruited from a Sicilian primary school and were administered the following research instruments: the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC-A), to investigate the traumatized response that can be triggered in the children involved; the Brother as a Resource Questionnaire (BRQ), to delve into the perception of sibling relationship as a resource.…

Maternal coping strategies in response to a child's chronic and oncological disease: a cross-cultural study in Italy and Portugal

A child's oncological or chronic disease is a stressful situation for parents. This stress may make it difficult for appropriate management strategies aimed at promoting the child's wellbeing and helping him or her cope with a disease to be adopted. In particular, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable national cultural influences and the parental strategies used to cope with a child's severe disease by comparing the experiences of Italian and Portuguese mothers. The study investigates differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of children with oncological or chronic disease. Two groups of mothers t…

Percezione del funzionamento familiare e strategie di coping in madri di bambini affetti da neoplasia in fase trattamentale

Il contributo presenta uno studio correlazionale sul rapporto tra specifiche strategie di coping di madri di bambini con neoplasia in fase trattamentale e la loro percezione del funzionamento familiare, in termini di coesione e adattabilita/flessibilita, muovendo dall’ipotesi che una relazione "virtuosa" tra le variabili considerate possa costituire una risorsa importante per la madre. Lo studio, che ha coinvolto un gruppo di 34 madri di bambini con neoplasia in fase di trattamento, ha previsto la somministrazione di due specifici strumenti: il Coping Orientation to the Problems Experienced -Nuova Versione Italiana (COPE-NVI), per rilevare le strategie di coping, e il Family Adaptability an…

A study on maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant women undergoing fetal echocardiography

Purpose: To investigate the possible effects of the fetal echocardiography experience on the prenatal attachment process. The predictive effect of specific women’s psychological variables will be explored as well. Design and methods: This between groups study involved 85 women with pregnancy at risk who underwent the fetal echocardiography, and 83 women who were about to undergo the morphological scan. The tools employed were: the Prenatal Attachment Inventory (P.A.I.) to explore the maternal-fetal attachment; the Maternity Social Support Scale to investigate the woman perception of being socially supported during pregnancy; both the Big Five Questionnaire and the FACES III to explore the p…

The relation between maternal locus of control and coping strategies of the child with leukemia in treatment phase

The present study focuses on the relation between coping strategies of children with leukemia during treatment and locus of control of their mothers. In particular, the study aims to determine whether maternal locus of control can influence sick children’s coping styles, and if this relation can be used to predict maladjustments. The study analyzed a cohort of 60 pediatric leukemia patients undergoing treatment and a group formed by their mothers. The participants were recruited from two Pediatric Onco-Hematology Units in Italy. The Child Behavioral Style Scale (CBSS) was used to assess children’s coping strategies, whereas the Parental Health Locus of Control Scale (PHLCS) was employed to …

La Psicologia pediatrica oltre la Psicologia in Pediatria

Sibship and Self-Esteem in Children With Asthma

This study has explored the valence of sibship that may empower the self-esteem of children with asthma at the interpersonal, environmental control competence, emotionality management, and body-image levels. It has been assumed that the relationship between siblings may have a moderating effect on the negative impact that asthma has on child’s development. Seventy children suffering from chronic asthma have been involved: 40 children with siblings (experimental group) and 30 sibling-free children (control group). The children with asthma have exhibited higher levels of self-esteem in comparison with the sibling-free children. The results of the study, at the clinical significance level, hig…

Strategie di coping e locus of control in Oncoematologia pediatrica: uno studio longitudinale

Schemi narrativi sul se' e autostima nel bambino con neoplasia: uno studio pilota pre-test

Aim The contribution reports on a pre-test pilot study, based on the single-case method (N>1 and N=1 one by one) aimed to investigate whether resilience factors regards self-narrative representation, self-esteem and their likely correlation in child suffering from tumour. Methods The administration of specific investigation instruments (T.M.A. – multidimensional self-esteem test and a narrative inquiry framed on purpose) has been planned by the survey. The participating subjects set up a group of 7 children, 8 to 12 year olds, suffering from tumour. The individuation of such subjects has been carried out in terms of some “drawing variables” such as the existence of tumour, its diagnosis (12…

The Child Neglect Assessment technique (C.N.A.). A path of the S.I.P.Ped

Lo studio presenta il percorso di validazione di una specifica tecnica di assessment del child neglect rivolta a genitori di bambini di età compresa tra 3 e 9 anni, e che risulta articolata in due specifici strumenti di osservazione. Questa tecnica si fonda su uno specifico modello teorico-operativo costruito in riferimento alla prospettiva della Psicologia pediatrica, che identifica la causa del child neglect nella presenza di una disregolazione della competenza genitoriale, e quindi, nella gestione delle funzioni genitoriali di caregiving, scaffolding e coping. La tecnica presenta un particolare punto di forza: la capacità di intercettare i segnali di una possibile condizione di child neg…

Prenatal attachment in pregnant women subjected to fetal echocardiography

Maternal-foetal attachment in pregnancy at risk for fetal congenital heart disease

A tool to observe the phenomenology and aesthetics of primary relationships: the “dance steps” of reciprocity between caregivers and infant/child – Pilot validity study

This study addresses the complexity of caregiver-infant/child interactions from the theoretical frame of Gestalt psychotherapy and the field of application of Pediatric Psychology. Based on a previous empirical study on the process of reciprocity in caregiver-infant/child interactions (Spagnuolo Lobb, 2016), the authors have worked on the construction of an observational tool to look at the co-creation of meaningful experiences, switching the focus from the child to the “dance” of reciprocity between caregiver and infant/child. Considering the contextualization in the field of Pediatric Psychology, this pilot study aimed to test the tool’s application with caregiverpreterm infant dyads, but…

L'oncologia pediatrica

Il bambino con tumore tra vincoli della malattia e possibilità dello sviluppo

Il contributo propone una riflessione sulle potenzialità che la “ricerca-servizio” offre all’assessment e alla presa in carico dello sviluppo del bambino con patologia oncologica. In tal senso, viene proposto un modello di lettura della ricerca-servizio come percorso metodologico che risponde a un bisogno del contesto, che si contestualizza nei tempi e negli spazi della cure-care, che ha ricadute sulle scelte trattamentali, che ha una funzione di mediazione e che è sempre in interazione con l’intervento psicologico; una ricerca, dunque, che finisce con il facilitare la presa in carico multidisciplinare del bambino, veicolando una lettura di ogni caso di bambino affetto da tumore come condiz…

Coping strategies and locus of control in children suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Introduction The start of the treatment phase of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) diagnosis represents an emotional distress condition for the child (Hildenbrand et al., 2011), which requires to use some resources to manage this condition in an adaptive way, one of these resources is represented of coping strategies. The study focuses on children’s coping strategies according to the model of Miller (1987; Miller et al., 1995), which distinguishes between two specific directions, monitoring and blunting. At the same time, the study presents an innovative aspect focusing on the relationship between coping and locus of control, as well as the possible mirroring between child’s and his mother…

Coping strategies of Italian and Portuguese mothers in response to a child’s chronic or oncological disease: a cross-cultural study

Background: A child’s chronic or oncological disease is a stressful condition for parents, that may affect the adaptive management helpful for warranting the child’s wellbeing to a disease. Particularly, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable “culture” and parental strategies to cope with child’s severe disease, by a comparison between Italian and Portuguese mothers. Design and Methods: This research inquires differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of child with chronic or oncological disease. Participants are two mothers’ groups: 59 Italian mothers (M=37,7; SD=4,5) and 36 Portuguese mothers (M=3…