ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This multicenter, parallel-group, randomized trial examined the effects of an animal-assisted intervention on the stress, anxiety, and health-related quality of life for children diagnosed with cancer and their parents. METHOD: Newly diagnosed patients, aged 3 to 17 years (n = 106), were randomized to receive either standard care plus regular visits from a therapy dog (intervention group), or standard care only (control group). Data were collected at set points over 4 months of the child's treatment. Measures included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory™, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Pediatric Inventory for Parents, and child blood pressure and heart rate. All instruments were completed by the child and/or his/her parent(s). RESULTS: Children in both groups experienced a significant reduction in state anxiety ( P < .001). Parents in the intervention group showed significantly decreased parenting stress ( P = .008), with no changes in stress among parents in the control group. However, no significant differences between groups over time on any measures were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Animal-assisted interventions may provide certain benefits for parents and families during the initial stages of pediatric cancer treatment.
Subject(s)
Animal Assisted Therapy/methods , Anxiety/therapy , Neoplasms/psychology , Parents/psychology , Patients/psychology , Quality of Life/psychology , Stress, Psychological/therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Despite aggressive pain management with opiates, debilitating pain still occurs in a subset of children with terminal cancer. A 5-year-old girl with metastatic retinoblastoma, profound opiate tolerance, and refractory pain was treated. Continuous lidocaine infusion was initiated at a dose of 35 microg/kg per minute and increased over 4 days to 50 microg/kg per minute, at which point the patient was discharged for continued end-of-life comfort care. The patient had excellent pain relief without the associated lethargy of high-dose opiates. No complicating neuroexcitatory symptoms or cardiac conduction abnormalities were experienced. Intravenous lidocaine may be an effective alternative to opioids in the treatment of refractory malignant pain in the pediatric patient with terminal cancer.
