PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY

This book is a comprehensive text on the all-important psychosocial aspects of cancer in children. Edited by an experienced psycho-oncologist and an equally experienced pediatric oncologist, the book brings together an international group of contributors composed of pediatric oncologists and psychologists/psycho-oncologists. This unique balance of contributors gives the book a focus on the real-life practical aspects of children undergoing treatment for cancer. The book helps health care professionals, who look after children and adolescents with cancer, in dealing with the difficult and complex problems that face the child, his siblings and his parents. It deals with critical issues such as the neuropsychological impact of treatment, (including bone marrow transplantation), pain, quality of life in survivors, palliative care, talking to children and their families about death, and providing support to the dying.

An important part of the book provides tools for evaluation and methods of psychological intervention. It is thus a very practical work for psycho-oncologists, pediatric oncologists, pediatricians, psychologists, nurses, social workers and art therapists dealing with the problems that children with cancer have to confront.

• A comprehensive book on the clinical approach to psychosocial problems of children with cancer
• Includes evaluation tools and psychological intervention techniques
• Contributions from both pediatric oncologists and psycho-oncologists highlight the team approach to the treatment of childhood cancers

List of Contributors.

Foreword (Jimmie Holland, MD, Head of Psychiatric Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering NY, USA).

PART ONE: MEDICAL ASPRCTS.

1.Cancer in Children - An Introduction (Shai Izraeli and Gideon Rechavi).

2. Neuropsychological Aspects of Medical Treatments in Children with Cancer (Raymond Mulhern, et al.). 

3. Palliative Care for Children with Advanced Cancer (Joanne Wolfe, et al.).

4. Pain in Children with Cancer (Richard D. W. Hain).

5. Care of a Child Dying of Cancer (Sergey Postovsky and Myriam Weyl Ben Arush).

PART TWO: PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS.

6. The Child’s Subjective Experience of Cancer and the Relationship with Parents and Caregivers (Daniel Oppenheim).

7. Quality of Life in Children with Cancer: Definition, Assessment and Results (Shulamith Kreitler and M ichal M. Kreitler).

8. Psychiatric Impact of Childhood Cancer (Margaret L. Stuber and Debra Seacord).

9. The Family of the Child with Cancer (Dafna Meitar).

10. Psychosocial Effects of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Children (Ronit Elhasid, et al.). 

11. The Survivors of Childhood Cancer (Amita Mahajan and Meriel E. M. Jenney).

PART THREE: PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS.

12. Speaking to Children about Serious Matters (Jane E. Skeen and M. Louise Webster).

13. Psychosocial Interventions: the Cognitive-Behavioral Approach (Bob F. Last and Martha A. Grootenhuis).

14. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in Children with Cancer (Cynthia D. Myers, et al.).

15. Fantasy, Art Therapies, Humor and Pets as Psychosocial Means of Intervention (Shulamith Kreitler, et al.).

16. Psychological Intervention with the Dying Child (Shulamith Kreitler & Elena Krivoi).

17. Education of the Sick Child: Learning and Reintegration into the School (Ciporah S. Tadmor and Myriam Weyl Ben Arush).

Index.