Clinical trial · Interventional
Wonders & Worries: A Clinical Trial of a Psychosocial Intervention for Children Who Have a Parent With Cancer
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Parental cancer can cause substantial behavioral and emotional distress in both parent and child. Parents struggle with talking with their child about their cancer and supporting the child during treatment. Over 73% of patients with children desire information and services to support their children yet only 9% of these families report receiving this support. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Wonders \& Worries psychosocial intervention designed for children ages 5-14 who have a parent diagnosed with early stage cancer.This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) evaluating the Wonders \& Worries group and individual intervention for school age children (5 -14 years old) who have a parent with cancer. Families will be enrolled at the time of initial parent consultation, given informed consent, and then randomized either to the intervention group of 30 families or the wait-listed control group of 30 families. Both groups will be given a series of standardized validated assessment instruments including the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Family Communication Scale FACES IV at baseline, post intervention, and 8 week follow up. Upon completion of the follow up measures, families in the wait-listed control group will be enrolled into the intervention. Parent exit interviews for both groups will be used to measure parent-reported child outcomes and program utility.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer | Malignant Neoplasm | ALIAS | 0.90 |
| Psychological Adjustment | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wonders & Worries Psychosocial Intervention | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- W & W Intervention
- description
- Wonders \& Worries Psychosocial intervention is a 6 week group or individual sessions for children who have a parent with cancer focusing on psycho-educational information about cancer, treatment and its side effects, feelings expression, positive coping strategies, and family communication about the illness.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Wonders & Worries Psychosocial Intervention
- type
- OTHER
- label
- Wait list control
- description
- Wait list group will complete baseline, 6 week and 8 week follow up measures and then will be enrolled to receive W \& W intervention.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Wonders & Worries Psychosocial Intervention
Primary outcomes (9)
- measure
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 5 Years
- Maximum age
- 14 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Families with children ages 5-14 at time of study. Children have a parent with early stage cancer, and are English-speaking. Exclusion Criteria: * Children are not living in the home with the ill parent at least 50% of the time. Non-English speaking families.
References
Publications (2)
- BACKGROUNDPhillips F, Prezio EA. Wonders & Worries: evaluation of a child centered psychosocial intervention for families who have a parent/primary caregiver with cancer. Psychooncology. 2017 Jul;26(7):1006-1012. doi: 10.1002/pon.4120. Epub 2016 Mar 8. PMID 26954773
- DERIVEDPhillips F, Prezio EA, Currin-McCulloch J, Jones BL. Wonders & Worries: A randomized clinical trial of a psychosocial intervention for children who have a parent with cancer. Psychooncology. 2022 Aug;31(8):1399-1411. doi: 10.1002/pon.5943. Epub 2022 Apr 29. PMID 35470518