Scholarly literature review: Efficacy of psychological interventions for pediatric chronic illnesses

Objective To review empirical studies of the efficacy of psychological interventions as adjuvant therapies for children with pediatric diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease. Methods A search was conducted for qualifying studies published since 1980. Only studies meeting basic criteria for external and internal validity were included. Nineteen studies were identified, providing data on 62 outcome variables. Effect sizes (ESs) were analyzed by illness type, intervention type, and strength of internal and external validity of the research design. Results Overall, interventions were associated with large ESs, which were not significantly moderated by illness type or intervention type. However, larger ESs were associated with lower scores on validity of research design. Conclusions Adjuvant psychological interventions for pediatric chronic illnesses appear in general to be efficacious, associated with a large mean ES across a range of outcome variables. However, until more studies have been completed using stronger research designs, only tentative conclusions can be drawn.