Family Functioning and Child Behavior When a Sibling is Critically Ill

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00912626

Enrollment

Registered

2009-06-03

Start date

2009-06-30

Completion date

2014-06-30

Last updated

2015-03-12

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Child Behavior

Keywords

siblings, family, child behavior, critical illness, social support

Brief summary

The goal of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between an efficacious family environment and sibling behavior in families with children who are critically ill.

Detailed description

Families of critically ill children can face many emotional challenges during the course of a child's illness. While some research has looked at the impact on parents, there has been little focused on siblings. We want to better understand how social support may have a protective effect on siblings' quality of life. The goal of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between an efficacious family environment and sibling behavior in families with children who are critically ill. Our hypothesis is that a cohesive, emotionally rich and open family environment provides social support so that siblings can explore and express the difficult emotions that accompany illness, and is therefore a protective factor for a sibling's behavior.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALOne week follow up assessment results

FU-1 feedback group will receive child behavior assessment results and interpretation,and a brief intervention to encourage support options.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* adult (age 18 and older) who has decision making authority for CHOP patient who has been referred to the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) for palliative care services, and with a child(ren) age 6-11 years who is a sibling of the patient * any race/ethnicity

Exclusion criteria

* Non-English speaking

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
To compare behavioral assessment scores of siblings of children who are critically ill to scores of the general population	baseline and 6 months

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
To assess if parents who receive results of sibling behavior scores and a brief intervention, compared to parents who do not receive this information or intervention, have a different perception of the sibling's strengths and difficulties.	baseline and 1 month

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026