´Stronger Together´ - Psychological support for parents of children diagnosed with cancer

Parents of children with cancer report increased levels of psychological and relationship distress.

Yet, there is a lack of interventions in paediatric oncology care addressing these issues. ‘Emotionally focused couples therapy’ (EFT) is a brief online evidence-based psychological intervention for couples that has been shown to reduce both psychological and relationship distress; however, it has not been evaluated for parents of children with cancer.

This project aims, therefore, to test the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of EFT for parents of children with cancer (Study I), and determine the efficacy of EFT in the short- and long-term in a nationwide randomized controlled trial (RCT) (Study II).

The research project will be conducted in accordance with the Medical Research Council guidelines for developing and evaluating complex interventions.

In line with these guidelines, a group of parents of children with cancer will be engaged as research partners in the project.

Study I (n=20) will be an open trial with a pre-post and 3-month follow-up design, including quantitative and qualitative process evaluations.

Study II will be based on the results of Study I and evaluate the efficacy of EFT in terms of reduction of psychological and relationship distress in parents of children with cancer (n=60) in a two-armed RCT with a pre-, post-, 6- and 12-month follow-up design. Following successful evaluation, the EFT intervention will be implemented in paediatric oncology care.