Abstract
Reporting the preliminary findings and the feasibility of a pilot group psychotherapy intervention study of one hour session for four sessions, also known as 'PERKASA Intervention' towards parents of children with leukaemia, conducted at one of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Malaysia. In this Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design, a total of 19 parents agreed to participate and 11 participants were placed in the Treatment Group (TG), meanwhile eight parents were placed in the Control Group (CG). This study looked at the effects comparison between pre- and post-interventions, as well as reviewed the feasibility of the implementation of PERKASA Interventions. Feasibility refers to the evaluation of TG participants' feedback. PERKASA Intervention showed to positively impact stress, depression, anxiety, and coping strategies among TG at the pre and post stages. PERKASA Intervention has also been shown that it can be consistently used for targeted groups. The main challenge seen was the recruitment of participants during Covid-19 pandemic occurring all over the world. The data from this pilot study can be used as a reference for larger-scale studies in the future. This intervention was fully conducted by professionals from Medical Social Worker as therapists and the first to be implemented in Malaysia.
Highlights
According to Stewart & Wild (2014), childhood cancer cases are classified as children diagnosed with cancer before reaching the age of 15 and recorded cases of leukaemia, especially acute type, are common cases in children
Psychotherapy interventions implementation to parents of children with cancer were agreed by Rosenberg, Wolfe, Bradford, Shaffer, Yi-Frazier, Curtis, Syrjala and Baker, (2014) to lower the risk of psychological distress. This conducted study provided three significant benefits; first: implementation of the first group psychotherapy approach in Malaysia using the Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design towards parents of children with leukaemia; second: enhance the professionalism of Medical Social Workers in Malaysia; and third: this study can become a reference to similar studies in the future, in Malaysia
There was no significant difference between these two groups, it was found that the use of problem-focus coping strategies and emotion-focus coping strategies among Treatment Group (TG) was better than Control Group (CG)
Summary
According to Stewart & Wild (2014), childhood cancer cases are classified as children diagnosed with cancer before reaching the age of 15 and recorded cases of leukaemia, especially acute type, are common cases in children. The findings differences in this study needs to be viewed as a knowledge perspective because stress levels will change from the first day a child is diagnosed with a chronic disease (Osborne, McHugh, Saunders, & Reed, 2008) Both studies proved that dimensions of stress experienced by parents affected behavioural patterns and require specific actions or interventions to overcome it (Othman, Mohamad, Hussin, and Blunden, 2011b). Psychotherapy interventions to help parents overcome their psychological problems should be implemented, as suggested by American Academy of Paediatrics (1997) It aimed to control symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and being able to use appropriate coping strategies in environment. This conducted study provided three significant benefits; first: implementation of the first group psychotherapy approach in Malaysia using the RCT design towards parents of children with leukaemia; second: enhance the professionalism of Medical Social Workers in Malaysia; and third: this study can become a reference to similar studies in the future, in Malaysia
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