Rl. Blount et al., MAKING THE SYSTEM WORK - TRAINING PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY PATIENTS TO COPEAND THEIR PARENTS TO COACH THEM DURING BMA LP PROCEDURES/, Behavior modification, 18(1), 1994, pp. 6-31
Three 4- to 7-year-old pediatric oncology patients were taught to enga
ge in distraction prior to painful bone marrow aspirations and lumbar
puncture procedures and to use patty blowers as a breathing technique
during the painful procedures. Parents were taught to coach their chil
dren to use these coping behaviors. Using a multiple baseline across s
ubjects design, results indicated that all of the parents increased th
eir rate of coaching. Each child responded with increased coping and d
ecreased observable distress after the first treatment session. One ch
ild returned to baseline levels of coping and distress on the next two
sessions. The other two children maintained their high rates of copin
g and low rates of observable distress during the remaining treatment
and during the maintenance sessions. Parents' coaching of their childr
en to use coping behaviors also remained high during maintenance sessi
ons.