A Systematic Review of Parenting Interventions to Support Siblings of Children with a Chronic Health Condition.

Abstract

This systematic review summarises the parenting intervention literature for parents of children who have a sibling with a chronic health condition, and evaluates intervention efficacy for improving parent (parenting skills, parenting efficacy) and child (emotional and behavioural adjustment, condition knowledge, quality of life) outcomes. Electronic databases were searched to identify relevant papers published in English from inception until May 2020. Reference lists of eligible papers were further searched for relevant articles. Six papers (two controlled trials, four uncontrolled trials) evaluating four separate intervention programs met inclusion criteria. All included parent- and child-focused intervention components. Results showed an overall trend for pre- to post-intervention improvement in children's behavioural and emotional adjustment and health condition knowledge. Few studies examined effects on parent outcomes, and there was no evidence of change on these measures. Overall, results suggest that parenting interventions may help to improve siblings' emotional and behavioural adjustment and condition knowledge; however, all of the interventions combined parent- and child-directed intervention components, making it difficult to determine which intervention elements drive change. Further research is needed to test mechanisms by which parenting interventions may improve outcomes for siblings of children with chronic health conditions, and to establish the efficacy of this approach.