Michelle has recently been diagnosed with childhood cancer. Understandably, her parents are concerned about her well-being and want to know how they can best help Michelle to cope with the painful procedures she will have to endure. What advice and suggestions would you make to Michelle's parents?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In general, there are two main psychological approaches to helping children cope with stressful medical procedures and chronic and recurrent pain: providing information and training them in coping skills (Thompson & Gustafson, 1996). Information strategies offer verbal explanations and demonstrations as well as modeling the procedure, which reduce distress because this makes the medical procedure more predictable (Jaaniste, Hayes, & von Baeyer, 2007).

Coping strategies involve teaching the various coping skills of deep breathing, attention distraction muscle relaxation, relaxing imagery, emotive imagery, and behavioral rehearsal (e.g., children may be asked to imagine themselves as superheroes undergoing a test of their powers) (Dahlquist, 1999). Children are encouraged to identify specific stressors associated with their illness (e.g., giving themselves an injection) and to learn ways to handle those stressors and prevent distress or failure.