What is it about?

This study enabled Turkish healthy adolescents who have a sibling diagnosed with cancer to express their experiences in their own words.

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Why is it important?

It is the first publication that determines the experiences of adolescent Turkish siblings of children with cancer. The siblings' needs and expectations to be visible in this process somehow constitutes the framework of their experiences. The lack of protective psychosocial care is a basic risk factor for siblings of pediatric cancer patients in Turkey. In addition to the cancer process, health care professionals should be vigilant about other risks of siblings' own lives.

Perspectives

Siblings of pediatric cancer patients are often at the periphery of the family and hospitalization, from which they notice changes in the family functioning after a pediatric cancer diagnosis, the unpredictable nature of the disease and the changes it causes. We believe that this study will guide Turkish pediatric oncology nurses to improve the care and support provided to healthy siblings of children with pediatric cancer. Nurses (and other health care professionals) should be aware of possible risks and take precautions to make sure that siblings of children with pediatric cancer are not adversely affected by the situation.

Melike Ayça Ay
Hacettepe Universitesi

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: I'm Here, Too: Being an Adolescent Sibling of a Pediatric Cancer Patient in Turkey, Journal of Pediatric Nursing, March 2020, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2019.10.003.
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