Anxiety, Coping, Mood, Stress
Conditions
Keywords
Parent, childhood cancer, Complementary and Alternative
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether Guided Imagery and Progressive Muscle relaxation are effective as stress reducing techniques in parents of hospitalized children with cancer.
Detailed description
Having a children with cancer can be a source of stress for parents during hospitalization. The stress experienced by the parents can negatively influence their functionality, daily activities, psychological state and also their physical condition. The studies in the literature have mainly focused on the child rather than the parent, and studies specifically for guided imagery are scarce. Since the parents are often neglected by the healthcare professionals during the stress evoking period of hospitalization, this study will test the effectiveness of complementary methods in improving the psychological state of the parents.
Interventions
Daily implementation of the guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation techniques additionally to weekly supervised sessions.
Sponsors
Cyprus University of Technology
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* willingness to participate * having a child with childhood cancer been hospitalized for 4 weeks * have a child (0-18) of age with childhood cancer * able to speak and write Greek fluently * no previous experience with CAM techniques
Exclusion criteria
* receiving drug therapy for stress * using another CAM technique during the study * parents of children receiving palliative care
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in the number of Participants with anxiety | 1 week, 2 week, 3 week , 4 week | Participants response to the complementary and alternative intervention will be measured through their scores on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in the number of Participants with mood changes | 1 week, 2 week, 3 week , 4 week | Participants response to the complementary and alternative interventions will be measured through their scores on the POMS scale |
| stress level with Biodots | 1 week, 2 week, 3 week, 4 week | — |
Countries
Cyprus
Outcome results
None listed