Brief report: parents of children undergoing bone marrow transplantation: documenting stress and piloting a psychological intervention program.

OBJECTIVE

To document levels of stress in parents of children undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT) over the course of hospitalization and to pilot a psychological intervention program designed to teach parents techniques for managing stress associated with their child's illness and hospitalization.

METHODS

Twenty-two mothers of children (ages 2-16) undergoing BMT were followed prospectively from preadmission to three weeks posttransplant. Eleven mothers, randomly assigned to participate in a pilot intervention program, were compared with 11 control mothers receiving standard care preparation of their child's BMT.

RESULTS

Repeated measures ANOVAs detected significant changes in stress over time, with most stress reported preadmission. Mothers in the intervention condition reported using more stress management techniques than mothers in the standard care condition, though the majority of analyses revealed no significant differences in stress between groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Increased levels of parenting distress may occur pretransplant, suggesting the need for additional psychological intervention at that time.