Newly diagnosed pediatric oncology patients and their families : the effect of family therapy on anxiety and depression

The proposed study is a preliminary investigation of a hypothesized relationship between family therapy and levels of child patient and parent anxiety and depression. Currently, medical practice does not include mental health services and familial support to oncology patients in typical treatment protocol. While anxiety and depression appear to be present during all phases of cancer, providing family therapy at the time of diagnosis is warranted as symptom alleviation at this juncture may mitigate these symptoms throughout subsequent phases and potentially decrease somatic difficulties. Research questions will be addressed by analyzing data, including scores on measures of anxiety and depression. Statistical analyses will include two and three-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) and repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).