Introduction
This paper aims at describing the implementation plan of educational sessions with cancer patients’ parents and family to educate them about the process of cancer treatment, its highs and low, and what to expect to be prepared. The training will be conducted in Nicklaus Children Hospital in the oncology department. I selected the topic because I wanted to ease the suffering of the families that support their children in fighting cancer. The hospital was selected because I am have been working there for a long time, and the personnel is willing to help me with the implementation of the process. I believe that emotional support is very important for the families in these situations, and I want to give them tangible facts and information that will help them understand what is happening and how to deal with all the problems.
Project Goals and Objectives
The proposed project aims at improving mental health and well-being of families that have children diagnosed with cancer to improve their quality of life. In order to achieve this goal, the following objectives were developed:
- Provide families with education about how to live healthy and cope with problems associated with their child’s diagnosis;
- Provide education concerning the available national, state, and local programs that can support the family with finances, mental health issues, and medication;
- Give the families a chance to share their feeling and emotions concerning their life post-diagnosis to create an atmosphere of understanding and support.
The goal and objectives are coherent with the Healthy People 2020 goals. According to Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (DPHP, 2021), Healthy people 2020 is an ambitious ten0year plan to improve the nation’s health. The initiative had four overreaching goals, and the proposed program is coherent with two of them. On the one hand, the program will create social and physical environments that promote good health for all, which is Goal 3 of Healthy People 2020 (DPHP, 2021). On the other hand, the program will promote quality of life, healthy development, and healthy behaviors across all life stages, which is Goal 4 of Healthy People 2020 (DPHP, 2021). Thus, the proposed education program for parents will contribute to achieving Healthy People 2020 goals.
Implementation Plan
The implementation plan will be based on the Lewin’s change theory. The theory states that every change goes through three steps, including unfreezing, changing, and refreezing (Burnes, 2020). Since the implementation of the project may be considered a small-scale change for the hospital’ routine, the model is appropriate for the implementation plan. The outline of the plan is provided below.
Unfreezing stage
- Conducting a research concerning the importance of help to families in which children were diagnosed with cancer;
- Overviewing best practices of other hospitals with similar problems;
- Spreading awareness about the need of the program among employees and the administrative staff;
- Gaining emotional, administrative, and financial support of the administrative team.
Changing
- Conducting weekly courses concerning how to cope with psychological problems of families;
- During one of the sessions, provide families all the information about the available programs and other support measures available on the national, state, and local levels;
- Promote the atmosphere of trust and care during the sessions;
- Conducting frequent assessment of psychological distress of family members.
Refreezing
- Evaluate the program using qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (surveys) methods;
- Make necessary changes in the training program for the future;
- Ensure that the program becomes recurrent in the future.
Justification of the Project
The project is expected to bring significant benefits to the families fighting pediatric cancer. According to Bass (2018), families fighting pediatric cancer anxiety, stress, and depression. Moreover, families are often unaware of support systems designed to help them receive psychological and financial health. Borrescio-Higa and Valdés (2022) also stated that parents often have to adjust their lives to a new routine, as they become engaged in the treatment of their child. These adaptations are not always optimal, which leads to financial problems, decrease in the quality of life, and emotional distress. Since the program addresses these problems, its introduction is justified.
Timeline
The program will be implemented in the oncology department of Nicklaus Children Hospital in Miami, Florida. The program will be conducted in the course of six months. The first stage (unfreezing) will take two months. The second stage (actual implementation) will take three month or 12 weeks. During this stage, the participants will be provided with all the information and training. The final stage, will take one month, as all the data will need to be collected and analyzed, while results will need to be disseminated. The timeline for the project is provided in Figure 1 below.
Proposed Interventions and Partnerships
The program will consist of several interventions provided by nurses. First, nurses will assess conduct mental health scanning for depression and anxiety. Second, nurses will provide behavioral interventions to help parents develop coping skills. Third, the nurses will provide education to spread awareness among parents about the possible development of cancer, the associated difficulties, and possible ways to address the problem. Additionally, nurses may ask social workers from local community centers to tell the participants about the local resources for children diagnosed with cancer and their parents.
Materials and Budget
The proposed program does not require much materials, as it is an education program. The unfreezing stage will not require any materials, as awareness about the program will be disseminated using online materials that I will create myself. The second stage will require printed materials in the form of the brochures and leaflets. Additionally, since some of the meetings in the course of the education program may be implemented online, conference equipment and software will be required. The program will also require room, which will be provided by the hospital.
The proposed budget is provided in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Proposed budget
Conclusion
This paper provided an action plan for the program designed to help the parents of children diagnosed with cancer to cope with post-diagnosis difficulties. The implementation plan is based upon Lewin’s theory of organized changed, which describes three steps, including unfreezing, change, and refreezing. The project will take a total of six months that are expected to improve the mental health and well-being of families that have children diagnosed with cancer to improve their quality of life. The total cost of the program is expected to be $3,500, as the majority of costs will be covered by the hospital. The program will be implemented by nurses and partners from the local community centers that will provide information about how the difficulties associated with fighting cancer can be addressed.
References
Bass, P.F. (2018). When cancer strikes a family: Psychosocial issues in pediatric oncology. Contemporary Pediatrics. Web.
Borrescio-Higa, F., & Valdés, N. (2022). The Psychosocial Burden of Families with Childhood Blood Cancer. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), article 599. Web.
Burnes, B. (2020). The origins of Lewin’s three-step model of change.The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(1), 32-59. Web.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2021). Healthy People 2020.Health.gov. Web.