Completed Research Project
An Australian analysis of the supportive and palliative care needs of children who die from cancer and their families
Investigators: Monterosso,
L., Kristjanson,
L. J., Yates,
P., Sawyer, S., Hynson, J., Phillips, M., Stevens, M., Irving,
H., Goodenough, B., Ewing, L., White, K., Alessandri,
A. J., & O’Riordan, E.
Funding: NHMRC, Department of Health & Ageing
($87,000).
Abstract: This multi-site national study involved paediatric tertiary centres in WA, VIC, NSW and QLD. This study was the first of its kind in the area of paediatric supportive and palliative care in Australia. This study achieved four major outcomes. First, the work was grounded in a documented need for more attentive and specific support to parents of children who died from cancer helping them to provide more appropriate care. This knowledge was particularly useful to health care professionals who endeavoured to provide more sensitive, appropriate and cost-effective care to this group. Second, children/adolescents with all forms of life-threatening illnesses and their families benefited. Third, the study also provided methodological information about a method of assessing the needs of children/adolescents with cancer and their families that was simple, cost-effective and allowed responsive care interventions. Finally, the work provided an essential foundation for the subsequent phase of this research program that implemented clinical trials to test the palliative and supportive care interventions for children/adolescents with cancer and their families. The potential for the Australian researchers to provide leadership in this area of knowledge development was notable.
