A Mindfulness-Based Meditation Pilot Study: Lessons Learned on Acceptability and Feasibility in Adolescents with Cancer

A growing body of research has documented the psychological impact of cancer on adolescents (such as symptoms of depression, anxiety and withdrawal). Findings from the adult literature suggest that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are a promising treatment option for helping individuals manage cancer and alleviate the associated psychological symptoms. The aim of the present pilot study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a MBI for adolescents with cancer and examine its potential positive impact on sleep, mood, and quality of life. Over 9 months of recruitment, 481 youth were screened for participation in this project. Of these, 418 (86.9 %) were excluded because they lived further than 1 h from the intervention site, had no history of cancer, had died or were not reachable by telephone. Of the 63 who were contacted, only 7 (1.4 %) agreed to participate, gave their consent, and provided a complete dataset. A prospective quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with two groups (experimental; n = 7 and no treatment; n = 7) was used to assess the MBI. Only participants from the experimental group completed follow-up measures at 6 months. Repeated-measure ANOVAs were conducted to assess the impact of the intervention. No significant differences between or within groups were found pre to post assessment and at follow-up. A narrow pool of eligible participants, a high refusal rate, school scheduling conflicts and absenteeism had a significant impact on the final sample size. Suggestions to conduct future trials are presented. Larger randomized-controlled trials are necessary to assess whether MBIs have significant beneficial effects in teenagers with cancer.     

Age differences in contingency judgement linked to perceptual segregation

We demonstrate large differences in judging positive and null contingencies between younger and older adults with a task commonly used to explore cue competition in both contingency and causality judgements. The one-phase blocking task uses two cues, with separate contingencies with the same outcome. The age differences persisted even when participants knew in advance which of the two contingencies to judge. The age differences disappeared, however, when the stimulus display contained markers aiding perceptual segregation. We suggest that the age differences elicited in the one-phase blocking task are linked to decrements in perceptual segregation.     

Stress and Well-Being Among Parents of Children with Potocki-Lupski Syndrome

Potocki-Lupski syndrome (PTLS) or duplication 17p11.2 syndrome is a newly characterized condition causing a variety of health problems with variable severity, including failure to thrive in infancy and childhood, hypotonia, structural heart anomalies, cognitive impairments, speech and learning difficulties, and autism. Due to its recent clinical characterization little is known about the psychosocial impact of this condition on patients and their families. This study evaluated whether parental psychosocial outcomes were associated with children’s PTLS disease severity. Parents of 58 children with PTLS completed a cross-sectional survey that assessed parental stress, quality of life, and coping skills. Parental functioning was associated with greater severity of feeding difficulty and with lower severity of a cardiovascular defect. Findings from this study highlight potential support needs of parents of children affected by PTLS and suggest ways in which these needs may be addressed.