Training Opportunities

American Psychosocial Oncology Society 5th Annual Conference, Irvine, CA
February 28, 2008

Parenting with Cancer: Guiding Families Through the Illness Continuum

A pre-conference workshop presented by Cynthia Moore Ph.D, Karen Fasciano Psy.D, and Anna Muriel MD, MPH

This workshop will teach clinicians to support and guide patients who are struggling to manage the needs of their children during the parent’s illness. Participants will gain knowledge of child development as it relates to a child’s understanding of parental cancer, as well as practical parenting tips for children of different ages. Using experience gained in a hospital-based parenting program, the facilitators will provide a clinical approach to parent guidance that emphasizes parent-child communication, maintaining children’s routines, and preserving family time in the context of parental cancer. The material will be structured around helping families navigate the illness trajectory from diagnosis, through various forms of treatment, recurrence, transition to palliative care, and the end of life. This includes how to talk with children of different ages about the new diagnosis, how to explain and prepare children for the effects and side effects of treatment, how children understand terminal illness and death, as well as managing genetic issues, issues of privacy, and expression of emotions about the illness.

For further information, please visit the American Psychosocial Oncology Society website.