Systematic review: Family resilience after pediatric cancer diagnosis

Abstract

Objectives A systematic review was conducted to (1) investigate family resilience in the context of pediatric cancer, and (2) examine theoretical, methodological, and statistical issues in this literature. Family resilience was operationalized as competent family functioning after exposure to a significant risk. Methods Following guidelines for systematic reviews, searches were performed using Web of Science, Pubmed, Cochrane, PsycInfo, and Embase. After screening 5,563 articles, 85 fulfilled inclusion criteria and were extracted for review. Results Findings indicated that most families are resilient, adapting well to the crisis of cancer diagnosis. However, a subset still experiences difficulties. Methodological issues in the current literature hamper strong nuanced conclusions. Conclusions We suggest future research with a greater focus on family resilience and factors predicting it, based on available theory, and conducted with attention toward unit of measurement and use of appropriate statistical analyses. Improvements in research are needed to best inform family-based clinical efforts.