In what ways does a siblings cancer diagnosis affect college students

Abstract

There has been great research done on how the hospital environment and illness affect a child’s mental well-being but there has not been nearly enough research on how these factors affect the child’s sibling’s mental well-being. Children are very unique in how they process information and how they cope with unknown situations that scare them; this is why we need to study siblings in the healthcare setting. This information will help child life specialists in hospitals by letting them know areas to pay close attention to with siblings and how they can best support them. To find more information I conducted a literature review and used terms such as siblings, hospital, cancer, and mental wellbeing. I found several research-based and secondary articles to review. We need this research about siblings because the patient is not the only one stressed and needing support during a time of illness. By searching existing literature I found several articles to support that there is a need to conduct more research on siblings and how their brother’s or sister’s illness affects them.