Family Functioning and Child Behavior When a Sibling is Critically Ill

Families of critically ill children can face many emotional challenges during the course of
a child's illness. While some research has looked at the impact on parents, there has been
little focused on siblings. We want to better understand how social support may have a
protective effect on siblings' quality of life. The goal of this study is to determine if
there is a correlation between an efficacious family environment and sibling behavior in
families with children who are critically ill. Our hypothesis is that a cohesive,
emotionally rich and open family environment provides social support so that siblings can
explore and express the difficult emotions that accompany illness, and is therefore a
protective factor for a sibling's behavior.

Inclusion Criteria:

- adult (age 18 and older) who has decision making authority for CHOP patient who has
been referred to the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) for palliative care
services, and with a child(ren) age 6-11 years who is a sibling of the patient

- any race/ethnicity

Exclusion Criteria:

- Non-English speaking