Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979
Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, & MFT!!

Section 1
Track #1 - Introduction

Question 1 found at the bottom of this page
Answer Booklet | Table of Contents
Get Audio Track: Open a new window with Ctrl N,
Left click audio track to Listen, Right click to "Save..." mp3
Get PRINTABLE format of this page. This may take a few moments.
To print, if you do not have Adobe Reader, it's available via a free download here.

Welcome to the Home Study Course sponsored by the Healthcare Training Institute, homestudycredit.com.  This course is entitled, Interventions for Helping Children Cope with Cancer in the Family.

Our primary intent for this home study course is to provide quality education to foster your professional growth.  The Institute has provided quality education since 1979.

We appreciate that you have chosen us as a vehicle for you to earn your Continuing Education Credit.

The purpose of the course is to assist you in increasing your knowledge regarding how to treat patients, clients, etc. dealing with a child’s emotions regarding the diagnosis of cancer in a parent or loved one.  As each case study is given, if the concepts seem to be applicable to your situation, I encourage you to turn your CD player off and make a few notes regarding the application of the principle to your setting.  However, these notes are for your purposes only and are not to be sent to the Institute.  Also each track is very content dense.  So feel free to replay the track to review the content either for your own purposes, or if you feel appropriate play the track in an individual or group session for client education.  Also permission is granted to reproduce this CD.  We encourage you to duplicate and give copies of this CD to colleagues, clients, etc. as you deem appropriate. We feel the information on our CD's is valuable.  Thus, we have an interest in distributing CD's in as many ways as possible, to benefit the greatest number of people, who have a need and are receptive to this practical information.

The questions in your Answer Booklet are sequential and deal with the section of content that preceded it.  For this reason, to facilitate the answering of each question, you might read the question from the Answer Booklet prior to listening to that CD track.  By knowing what the question is ahead of time, you will then know the content to listen for that contains the answer.  So just a hint, after you write down the answer to a question in your Answer Booklet, read on to the next question in order to give you a “heads up” to listen for the content that contains the answer to the next question.

Merely write the correct letter on the corresponding blank line in your answer booklet. Each answer is only used once. Keep in mind there is nothing tricky or hard about these questions.  They are merely intended to verify the playing of this CD.

For the purpose of brevity, most generally, I will use the term “therapists” or “mental health professional.”  However, don’t let these terms deter you from applying the concepts to your situations.  When you hear the word “therapists,” if your job title is social worker, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, professional counselor, resident director, program assistant, etc. merely substitute the appropriate term that is the most meaningful to you. In short, don’t let my use of the term “therapists” cognitively set you off track from hearing the content because your job title is school counselor, for example.  I will also use the term “client” for the purposes of brevity.  However, if you deal with patients, residents, students, consumers, etc., transpose “client” for the term that is the most meaningful to you in your work setting. 

On this CD set we will discuss such topics as: breaking the news, sorting out priorities, dealing with child grief, therapeutic tools, regression and failure, and coping with visits.

So  let’s get started

On the rest of this track we will discuss the needs of the child cope with cancer in the family.  The three fundamental needs we will discuss are continuous satisfaction of their basic physical and emotional needs, and understanding on their level of what is happening, and reassurance that they will be cared for no matter what happens to you

Cancer has entered your client’s life.  He or she may be recovering from a biopsy or surgery, in which case the client may be experiencing pain, grief, fear, or anxiety.  Perhaps the client is in the middle of treatment or recovering, in remission or facing recurrence.  Regardless of the effect of cancer on your client’s life, he or she may find themselves urged by parental instincts to protect children from the crisis that is cancer.  Would you agree that the problem with this approach is that there is no way to protect children from the fact that cancer has entered their lives? 

According to Dr. Harpham, it is the experience of oncology therapists that children know something serious is going on even when nobody says anything to them.  As a result, research indicates that parents and other adults can help children to adapt by talking openly with them about cancer. 

I find that children have three fundamental needs that, if met, enable them to adapt to their world no matter what is happening.  Would you agree that understanding these needs may help your client to interact productively with a dependent child?  These three fundamental needs are continuous satisfaction of their basic physical and emotional needs, and understanding on their level of what is happening, and reassurance that they will be cared for no matter what happens to you. 

First, taking care of basic physical and emotional needs is a never ending full time job in every home.  No matter what is happening with an ill parent, children must have regular meals, hygiene, and transportation to and from school.  Clearly, children also need emotional support such as words of comfort.  You might find it helpful to suggest to your client that his or her job is to make sure these needs are met, however it is not necessarily for the client with cancer to meet those needs themselves.

Next, let’s discuss the fundamental need for understanding on their level what is happening.  Do you agree that children need to know why daddy is in the hospital, why mommy is losing her hair, or why mommy and daddy are crying, yelling, or not talking?  I find that children are constantly exploring their environment.  By figuring out how things work, they make their world a bit more predictable and controllable.  Knowing what’s going on helps children function and avoid unpleasantness.  Clearly, children look to their parents to show them how to tame the fears and anxieties that accompany living with a sick parent. 

Finally, let’s discuss the fundamental need children have for reassurance.  Throughout both the illness and recovery, I find that children can benefit from reassurance that they will be cared for no matter what happens and that it is OK for them to be worried about themselves.  Would you agree that children will deal better with routine stresses and crises when they are confident that they will always have a home, food, shelter and love.  How might your client assure his or her child or children that birthdays, ball games and school parties will always be important and that the client will always make every effort to make them happen?  However, when circumstances make this difficult or impossible, your client will need strategies for helping the child deal with the resulting loss.  Perhaps he or she may encourage the child to continue to spend time with friends or save for that special toy the child has been eyeing with anticipation. 

Think of your client.  How might he or she ensure that the child’s three fundamental needs are met?

On this track we have discussed three fundamental needs of children.  . 

On the next track we will discuss breaking the news. 

QUESTION 1
What are three fundamental needs of children? To select and enter your answer go to Answer Booklet