Screening for Psychosocial Risk in Flemish Families of a Child With Cancer

Psychosocial support of children having a diagnosis of cancer and their families is a crucial aspect of a qualitative treatment. Assessment of psychosocial needs is a first step in order to provide better and preventive psychosocial support. In Flanders, no instrument for screening of psychosocial needs is available. The Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) is an international used instrument for the screening for psychosocial risk factors in families of a child with cancer. This study want to investigate the validation and evaluation of the clinical value of the Flemish translation of the PAT. Two large Flemish pediatric oncology centers will participate: University hospital Ghent (UZGent) and the University hospital in Leuven (UZLeuven). During a time period of 2.5 years families in which a child received a new diagnosis of a pediatric cancer will be invited to participate in this study. All subscales of the PAT will be validated by the use of standardized parent questionnaires measuring similar constructs: Inventory Social Reliance, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Parenting Stress Index-short version and illness cognitions questionnaire, parent version. The usability of the PAT will be evaluated with the PAT-Netherlands Usability questionnaire. The clinical value will be evaluated by comparing the clinical judgment of psychosocial risk by the psychosocial team members of both centers with the scores on the PAT.

The proposed project is an important step to ameliorate psychosocial support in families with a child with a diagnosis of cancer in Flemish pediatric oncological centers.