Abstract
Sibling relationships are one of the most long-lasting and influential relationships in a human's life. Living with a child who has a life-threatening condition changes healthy siblings' experience. This scoping review summarized and mapped research examining healthy siblings' experience of living with a child with a life-threatening condition to identify knowledge gaps and provide direction for future research. Studies were identified through five electronic databases. Of the 34 included studies, 17 used qualitative methods, four gathered data longitudinally and 24 focused on children with cancer. Four broad themes of sibling experience were identified across studies: family functioning, psychological well-being, social well-being, and coping. Siblings experienced challenges and difficulties over the course of the child's illness. Future research should incorporate longitudinal designs to better understand the trajectory of siblings' experiences and focus on a wider variety of life-threatening conditions.
Highlights
An estimated 21 million children worldwide are living with life-threatening conditions (Connor et al, 2017)
The approach was informed by Levac et al.’s (2010) scoping review framework, which is an extension of the original framework by Arksey and O’Malley (2005)
As there is limited research with siblings of children with life-threatening conditions, our aim was to qualitatively synthesize findings from all currently available research and provide direction for future research based both on current knowledge and types of study designs, populations and theoretical perspectives used in current research
Summary
An estimated 21 million children worldwide are living with life-threatening conditions (Connor et al, 2017). Life-threatening childhood conditions take an immense toll on both ill children and their families (O’Haver et al, 2010; Woodgate, 2006). For siblings of children with life-threatening conditions, the illness experience affects their psychosocial well-being, and family and social relationships (Alderfer et al, 2010). Siblings may report coping difficulties and poor relationships within the family and at school. These experiences may have long-term impacts on healthy siblings, such as decreased quality of life (Houtzager et al, 2004; Wilkins and Woodgate, 2005)
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