About this study
Rehabilitation professionals—such as physical, occupational, and speech therapists and audiologists—often work with children and teens who have cancer. These children sometimes get very sick or hear hard news about their health. Even though rehab professionals are part of the care team during these tough times, they usually do not get special training on how to talk with families about serious or emotional news related to the child’s illness.
This study tests a new training program that teaches rehab professionals how to talk with families in a clear and supportive way. The training includes 3 parts:
- Learning how to respond when someone is upset
- Listening to parents who have lost a child to cancer
- Practicing how to share serious news and respond to emotion
The goal is to help rehabilitation professionals feel more confident and prepared when having these important conversations.
Rehab professionals and parent educators will take part in the study. Rehab team members will fill out short surveys before and after the training, and again 3 months later. They will also be interviewed to share their thoughts. The parent educators will be interviewed as well.
We hope that this training will help rehabilitation professionals feel more confident to best support children with cancer and their families during difficult times.
Eligibility overview
- Licensed rehabilitation professionals who work at St. Jude
- Bereaved parent educators