The organization of a counselling service for the families of patients undergoing bone marrow transplant

The organisation of our Counsellig Service for the relatives of patients un dergoing bone marrow transplant is structured in various phases. During the first phase, contact is established with the relatives. The therapist intr oduces himself to the relatives when the patient is hospitalized and enters the sterile ward. The second phase consists in an illustration of the obje ctives and purpose of the Service. During this phase, two weekly interviews lasting approximately one hour are proposed, plus assessment tests (CFI, C amberwell Family Interview and MMPI - Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inv entory). A third phase, which is often contextual to the presentation of th e Service, consists in the recognition of the needs and suffering of the gi ven relative. Here, the therapist acts as a receptacle for the anxieties an d fear of death brought to him by the subject, thus empathetically acceptin g these states of mind and legitimizing them. Moreover, our model of interv ention envisages the formation of support groups for the relatives of patie nts suffering from blood cancers. A further phase concerns the exchange of information between the two therapists helping, respectively, the relative and the patient, and also with medical and nursing staff. To further the sa me aims, for a number of years now, our Service has been organising interve ntion groups for nursing staff working at CTMO. The final phase is counsell ing, which takes place twice a week. There are two fundamental areas of int ervention that must be taken into account for families of subjects sufferin g from blood cancers: providing information and offering support. From our experience, if emerges that the relatives need to obtain information on org anic aspects of the illness and the transplant.