BRIEF REPORT - THE ASSESSMENT OF POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER IN PEDIATRIC CANCER-PATIENTS AND SURVIVORS

Investigated the incidence and severity of Posttraumatic Stress Disord er (PTSD) in childhood cancer using informant methodology. The parents of pediatric cancer patients (n = 30) and off-treatment survivors (n = 42) completed a modified version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorde r Symptom Scale (PSS) on their children (M age = 8.8: SD = 4.0), in ad dition to the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Personality Inve ntory for Children (PIC). Medical treatment and demographic data were also collected for each child. The only variables that significantly i dentified the presence of symptoms of PTSD were being on treatment at the time of the evaluation or in the preparatory phase prior to bone m arrow transplantation and not having received cranial irradiation. Res ults indicate that a full constellation of PTSD symptoms can occur in children over the course of cancer treatment. Within the off-treatment pediatric cancer survivors, however, the incidence of PTSD was no gre ater than epidemiological estimates from the general population. The c oncurrent validity of the PSS received support, and the results, while preliminary, suggest that extended periods of medical trauma during w hich emotional support is present may not excessively predispose child ren to PTSD.