Dianne Fochtman

How adolescents live with leukemia.

Adolescence is a time of change and conflict as the individual seeks to find his identity and establish his independence. If the teenager also has a life-threatening illness, such as leukemia, the problems encountered are even more complicated. With guidance and support, however, these teenagers can continue the developmental tasks of adolescence. Helping these teenagers to find appropriate methods of coping and adaptation begins at the time of diagnosis. Trust is established when the adolescent receives honest, accurate information, with stress on the hopeful aspects of therapy. Support must be given as the teenager seeks appropriate ways to maintain peer acceptance. Denial must be recognized as an acceptable method of coping, particularly during periods of remission. Independence must be encouraged throughout the course of the adolescents illness. These teenagers are living with, not dying of, cancer, and we must direct our efforts towards helping them to live with their disease and grow toward maturity.

Mothers as volunteers in an oncology clinic

Mothers of children who had died of cancer were successfully utilized as volunteers in a pediatric oncology clinic to provide emotional support and practical assistance to other children afflicted with the same disease and to their families. At the start of the program these volunteers were carefully interviewed to determine their willingness and their emotional ability to participate on a consistent basis. Following an eight-week training program with a psychiatrist, a social worker, and a nurse, they began working in a large pediatric oncology clinic one day a week. Over an 18-month period they have become valuable members of the oncology team by helping to improve communications, to alleviate frustrations, and in giving additional emotional support to the children and their families.

A Tribute to Nurses Who Care for Pediatric AIDS Patients

this disease is irrational and pervasive in our society. The fears, prejudices, and feelings engendered by the AIDS epidemic may be transferred not only to the children with AIDS, but also to the nurses who care for pediatric AIDS patients. In social conversation when I say I work with children with cancer the response is often sympathy, admiration, and awe. The response to a nurse who works with AIDS patients may too often be fear, disgust, and withdrawal. The stigma of association may cause lay people to withdraw and avoid the nurse from fear of con-