Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 2, 2003, pp. 157-158
© 2003 Society of Pediatric Psychology
Book Review: Living With Childhood Cancer: A Practical Guide to Help Families Cope
Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center
This excellent book provides a comprehensive and orderly examination of the broad array of topics concerning the care of children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer. As the authors note, practical support for families coping with cancer lags behind medical advances. This book is rich with key information and special strategies families can use when confronted with cancer. The authors are a mother (Goodheart) and daughter (Woznick); the book reflects their personal experiences after Woznick's youngest daughter developed cancer. This family learned that cancer centers provide good medical treatment, but often overlook or delay attending to the significant emotional effects that families encounter when a child is diagnosed with cancer. Having talked with many parents whose child has cancer, and having experienced their own emotional "roller coaster" with this disease, the authors set out to write a coping guide and resource for families whose child has cancer. The book is a great resource for parents and health/mental health care professionals and is written in lay language easy to follow and understand.
The book has 13 chapters, beginning with the chapter on the initial diagnosis of cancer and ending with a chapter on "Dying and Grieving" and one on "Surviving." The chapter on dying and grieving covers topics that are extremely important to know, such as talking to the child about death and gentle reminders for helping surviving siblings. Common grief responses are discussed along with misconceptions about the time frame for grief. The chapter offers suggestions for other family and friends to carry out to help the bereaved family, such as helping to make funeral arrangements, running errands, doing chores, or putting together a photo album or collage of the child. The final grief chapter, "Surviving and Carrying the Torch," acknowledges that everyone within the family feels changed by the cancer experience and that the process of reintegration into the world outside of hospitals and treatments is very gradual. The book has 44 pages of helpful resources for families, including information about assistance, cancer organizations, camps for children, wish-fulfillment organizations, and books for parents (on coping, educating siblings, spiritual issues), as well as books and videos for children and teenagers that discuss their disease.
The authors' guidelines for explaining cancer to children, working through grief, and suggestions for providing support to toddlers, preschoolers, and teenagers are helpful to both parents and professionals. Throughout the book, the authors offer practical advice parents and professionals can use to help children to alleviate stress, cope with trauma or pain, handle emotions, and enhance development during this difficult illness.
Perhaps the chapters that may be most helpful to families (and also full of information that professionals can provide to families) are "Coping Successfully" and "Understanding the Impact on Your Family and Friends." In the former, the authors offer suggestions for coping strategies that involve communicating and expressing emotions, using denial and distancing, focusing on positive aspects, managing information, providing sibling support, creating a buffer zone, and searching for personal meaning. Helping the child with cancer cope successfully is important, and the authors offer ways hospital personnel as well as family and friends can help.
The authors interspersed illustrations depicting the real life stress of parents and teenagers dealing with cancer throughout the chapter on "Understanding the Impact on Family and Friends." The impact of having a child with cancer can alter relationships between spouses or create fear or anxiety in siblings. This chapter offers ideas on ways parents or professionals can assist siblings of the child with cancer, such as including the siblings in the cancer community but otherwise keeping their lives as non-cancer centered as possible.
In the chapter that addresses ways to encourage child development during the difficult phase of cancer treatment and the uncertainty regarding the course of the disease, the authors discuss common needs of children from infancy to teen years. They discuss special issues confronting each age level and provide gentle reminders to parents and professionals about things they can do to enhance the child's or adolescent's development. They conclude the chapter with steps parents can take to encourage their child's healthy development after treatment ends and fun ideas parents and professionals can use to nurture child development. Parents and professionals often focus on the disease process itself; this chapter reminds us that a holistic approach to cancer treatment is the best approach.
Woznick and Goodheart's book is a welcome publication that should help families more easily navigate the emotional turbulence they feel when told that their child has cancer. This valuable book offers insight and guidance and brings knowledge and awareness to the issues families face. It should be an important resource to mental health and medical professionals, as well as parents themselves.
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Leigh A. Woznick & Carol D. Goodheart. Washington, DC: APA Life Tools, 2002. 359 pages. ISBN 1-55798-872-2, $19.95 hardcover.
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