Standards for the Psychosocial Care of Children With Cancer and Their Families: An Introduction to the Special Issue

TLDR

The article outlines the methods for developing evidence‑based psychosocial care standards and introduces the 15 related articles in the special issue. The standards were derived through systematic literature reviews and evaluated with the AGREE II framework. Pediatric oncology psychosocial professionals and stakeholders developed 15 evidence‑based standards that help ensure all children with cancer and their families receive essential psychosocial care. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Pediatr Blood Cancer.

Abstract

Pediatric oncology psychosocial professionals collaborated with an interdisciplinary group of experts and stakeholders and developed evidence‐based standards for pediatric psychosocial care. Given the breadth of research evidence and traditions of clinical care, 15 standards were derived. Each standard is based on a systematic review of relevant literature and used the AGREE II process to evaluate the quality of the evidence. This article describes the methods used to develop the standards and introduces the 15 articles included in this special issue. Established standards help ensure that all children with cancer and their families receive essential psychosocial care. Pediatr Blood Cancer © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.