Maternal problem-solving therapy in pediatric cancer

Summary: This article describes a cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for teaching mothers of newly diagnosed patients with pediatric cancer to solve their problems, problems related to their child's illness, and the family's emotional reactions to the illness. The authors discuss the challenges and effects of maternal adjustment throughout the various stages of the child's illness, review the characteristics of adult learners, describe a maternal problem-solving therapy program, and provide an overview of the structured educational process, followed by a detailed discussion of a six-step maternal problem-solving therapy intervention. Finally, they describe an inventory that measures the effects of the intervention, which is being tested in a randomized controlled trial.