REHABILITATION OF FAMILIES OF CHILDHOOD-CANCER PATIENTS - LONG-TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL FOLLOW-UP

24 families of a child with cancer were questioned for a 3rd time, 8.4 years after initial diagnosis and 6.5 years after family-oriented reh abilitation, before and after which they had been interviewed twice. S ubject to this followup was the current family situation and the stabi lity of the remarkably positive effect the rehabilitation had shown in the Ist course of the study. Also we hoped to be able to identify pro blem-families, Generally the family situation seems to have returned t o normal, the standardised tests applied showed no significant differe nce to the general public. Nonetheless some families could be identifi ed as having severe coping difficulties with 2 to 4 members displaying psychosocial problems of a very high degree, Both groups of families profited in the same degree from the rehabilitation; this effect shows great stability for the families coping good, whereas those with copi ng difficulties worsen considerably, almost always beyond the degree d isplayed before the rehabilitation. To identify these families quickly and offer them support it seems necessary to establish an out-patient psychosocial follow-up.