Getting support when cancer invades your family: changes in wellbeing in young people accessing a community cancer support organization

Pandora Patterson; Fiona E. J. Mcdonald; Richard Tindle; Kit Bibby

doi:10.1080/07347332.2025.2452863

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Getting support when cancer invades your family: changes in wellbeing in young people accessing a community cancer support organization

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Getting support when cancer invades your family: changes in wellbeing in young people accessing a community cancer support organization

Pandora Patterson, Fiona E. J. Mcdonald, Richard Tindle and Kit Bibby

Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, Vol.43(5), pp.777-791

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07347332.2025.2452863

PMID: 39932869

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Abstract

Cancer

Community support

Distress

Family

Unmet needs

Youth

Objective: A preliminary examination of the psychosocial well-being of young people impacted by a family member’s cancer, and changes after engaging with a community cancer support organization. Methods: five-hundred-and-sixty young people attending a community cancer support organization self-reported distress and unmet needs at baseline and 6-month follow-up. this included young people who: had a brother or sister living with cancer (“siblings”); had a parent living with cancer (“offspring”); had lost a brother or sister to cancer (“bereaved siblings”); or had lost a parent to cancer (“bereaved offspring”). Results: Between 36.1% (siblings) and 57.6% (bereaved offspring) reported high distress; 61.6% (siblings) to 88.1% (bereaved off-spring) endorsed 10+ needs. Distress decreased significantly for offspring and bereaved offspring, and unmet needs decreased significantly for siblings, offspring and bereaved offspring. Between 50.0% (siblings) and 63.6% (bereaved siblings) showed significant improvement in distress, unmet needs, or both. Conclusions: Many young people impacted by family cancer have elevated distress and unmet needs. engagement with a community cancer support organization may improve their psychosocial wellbeing

Details

Title: Getting support when cancer invades your family: changes in wellbeing in young people accessing a community cancer support organization
Authors: Pandora Patterson - Canteen
Fiona E. J. Mcdonald (Corresponding Author) - Canteen
Richard Tindle - Canteen
Kit Bibby - Canteen
Publication details: Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, Vol.43(5), pp.777-791
Publisher: Routledge
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1080/07347332.2025.2452863
ISSN: 1540-7586
PMID: 39932869
Copyright note: © 2025 Canteen Australia. Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
Organisation Unit: School of Health; School of Health - Psychology
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991127099202621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Psychology, Social

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